G S 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 



Water-Supply Paper 276 



GEOLOGY AND UNDERGROUND WATERS 
OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS 



BY 



C. H, GORDON 








WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1911 




Class (^MlA^S 



Book 



J-^kj 



DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director 



Water- Supply Paper 276 



GEOLOGY AND UNDERGROUND WATERS 
OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS 

"7 



BY 



C. H. GORDON 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1911 

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CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Introduction . . . . „ 7 

Geography 7 

Physiography 7 

Drainage 9 

Literature 10 

Geologic history 11 

Pre- Cretaceous 11 

Cretaceous . 12 

Post-Cretaceous 13 

Geology 14 

Cretaceous system 14 

Comanche series (Lower Cretaceous) 14 

Gulf series (L T pper Cretaceous) 15 

Classification 15 

Woodbine sand. , 16 

Eagle Ford clay ._•..._._. 17 

Character.. _ „.......„...„. 17 

Thickness 17 

Fossils , 18 

Lower clays - 19 

Blossom sand member 19 

Austin group : 21 

General character and relations 21 

Brownstown marl 22 

Annona chalk 23 

Taylor marl and Navarro formation 25 

Attempted differentiations 25 

Character and thickness 26 

Fossils 27 

Tertiary system 28 

Eocene series 28 

Major divisions of the Eocene 28 

Midway formation 28 

Wilcox ("Sabine") formation 29 

Claiborne group 30 

Later Tertiary deposits 31 

Quaternary system 31 

Pleistocene series 31 

Port Hudson formation 31 

Recent , 32 

Erosion 32 

Natural mounds 32 

Structure ,......„..;..„. —.---.. 33 

3 



4 CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Underground water ._„«,__'._ 34 

Source 34 

Availability of underground water 35 

Capacity of rocks for imbibing water 35 

Artesian waters denned 36 

Conditions that determine artesian wells 36 

Artesian waters in northeastern Texas 37 

General geologic relations of the water-bearing beds 37 

Cretaceous system 38 

Trinity sand 38 

Washita group 39 

Woodbine sand « 40 

Eagle Ford clay 41 

Lower clays 41 

Blossom sand member 41 

Austin group 41 

Navarro formation and Taylor marl 41 

Tertiary system 42 

Wilcox ( ' 'Sabine' ' ) formation 42 

Surficial sands and gravels 44 

Review by counties 44 

Lamar County 44 

Geographic relations 44 

Geology 44 

Water resources 45 

Delta County 48 

Geographic relations 48 

Geology 49 

Water resources 49 

Red River County 51 

Geographic relations 51 

Geology 51 

Water resources 52 

Bowie County 53 

Geographic relations 53 

Geology - 53 

Water resources . - 54 

Deep wells 55 

Hopkins and Franklin counties 60 

Topographic relations 60 

Geology 60 

Water conditions 63 

Deep wells 63 

Cass County 64 

Topography 64 

Geology 65 

Water resources 67 

Data concerning wells 69 

Chemical composition of the waters .- 73 

Index ,...-.. ,*.„..,....,...,.,,.„..,... 77 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Plate I. Geologic map of northeastern Texas 16 

II. A, Eailroad cut at Ladonia station; B, Railroad cut at Avinger sta- 
tion 26 

Figure 1. Diagrammatic section of the Cretaceous rocks in northern Texas 

and southwestern Arkansas. 14 

2. Map showing overlap of Tipper Cretaceous on Lower Cretaceous and 

of Tertiary on Cretaceous in the Mississippi Valley 18 

3. Diagram showing the common arrangement of factors producing 

artesian wells 37 

4. Profile section showing water horizons 39 

5. Diagram showing water conditions in the lower Eocene strata in 

northwestern Louisiana and southern Arkansas 43 

6. Diagrammatic section near Atlanta, Cass County, Tex 66 

5 



GEOLOGY AND UNDERGROUND WATERS OF 
NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 



By C. H. Gordon. 



INTRODUCTION. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

The area considered in this report embraces 5,989 square miles in 
the extreme northeast part of Texas, comprising the counties of Bowie, 
Red River, Lamar, Delta, Hopkins, Franklin, Titus, Morris, Camp, and 
Cass. 

The mean annual rainfall of the region is about 48 inches, ranging 
from 45 inches in the west to a little more than 50 inches along the 
Arkansas State line. The mean annual temperature is from 64° to 
65° F. The district is traversed from east to west by three lines of 
railroads, the Texas & Pacific (Sherman branch), the St. Louis & 
Southwestern, and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas. The Marshall 
branch of the Texas & Pacific crosses the eastern part of the region 
and the Texas Midland, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, and the St. 
Louis & San Francisco all have their termini at Paris in the north- 
western part of the region. 

The rich soil of the black prairie lands early attracted settlers. 
According to the census of 1910 the population of the 10 counties 
named was 198,869, or an average of 33.7 to the square mile. The 
western part of the region is the most thickly settled, the two black- 
land counties, Lamar and Delta, leading, with an average of 51.5 and 
54.7 per square mile, respectively. The average for the timber- 
belt counties is 28.3, Hopkins and Camp leading with 46.6 and 44, 
respectively. 

PHYSIOGRAPHY. 

Lying near the outer border of the Gulf Coastal Plain, the surface of 
the district has in general the low rounded relief and gentle seaward 
slope characteristic of that physiographic province. The elevation 
ranges from 237 feet above sea level at Sulphur, in the northeast cor- 
ner of Cass County, to 649 feet above sea level at Cumby, near the 
western border of Hopkins County. The crest of the divide between 

7 



8 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Red and Sulphur Rivers has an average eastward slope of about 3 \ 
feet per mile, descending from an altitude of 601 feet at Paris to 295 
feet at Texarkana, or a total of 306 feet. South of Sulphur River the 
reconstructed plain surface coincident with the tops of the present 
hills would slope toward the southeast, and within the limits of the 
district would range from 649 feet at Cumby to about 320 feet near 
the eastern boundary of Cass County. 

The region is underlain by relatively soft strata which dip gently 
toward the coast, and in which the present relief has been developed 
by the dissection of the plain surface which characterized the region 
on its emergence from the sea. Degradation has left few if any traces 
of this old land surface, the chief topographic features now presented 
being the rolling and hilly uplands and the flood-plain and terrace 
areas, the former due largely to the differential erosion of the older 
beds of the coastal plain and the latter represented by the flat low- 
lands and adjoining terrace areas composed of redeposited sediments 
of comparatively recent fluviatile origin. 

The upland areas, which rise from 100 to 200 feet above the flat- 
bottomed drainage ways, present an irregular rolling topography due 
entirely to differences in the adjustment of erosion to the different 
geologic formations. The northwest portion, comprising all of Lamar 
and Delta counties and most of Red River County, is underlain by 
Cretaceous strata consisting of marls, glauconitic sands, clays, and 
chalk, which have been carved by erosion into an undulating surface 
of low relief called rolling prairie, which constitutes an integral part 
of the black-prairie belt of Texas. The interior of this belt is marked 
by a low range of hills that extends across Lamar and Red River coun- 
ties, due to the greater resistance to erosion offered by the chalk for- 
mation. This range apparently constitutes an extension of the 
Locksburg Wold in Arkansas, described by Veatch. 1 The Saratoga 
Wold, also mentioned by Veatch, is somewhat obscurely represented 
in Delta County near Enloe. In places the chalk ridge in Lamar and 
Red River counties presents a low northward-facing escarpment, due 
chiefly to a single hard layer 4 to 6 feet thick near the top. 

The upland region south of a line extending a little north of east 
from Commerce through Boston, the county seat of Bowie County, 
lies within the province known as the east Texas timber belt. This 
region is characterized by a range of hills which constitutes the exten- 
sion into Texas of the range known as the Sulphur Wold in Arkansas. 
It is essentially a deeply dissected dip plain, the substructure of which 
consists of the sandy beds of the lower Eocene. Over a considerable 
part of the region the slopes are still covered with timber. 

The streams have comparatively wide, flat flood plains, bounded 
by terraces, the highest of which has an elevation of about 90 feet 

i Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 14-16. 



DRAINAGE. 9 

above the present flood plain. These high-level terraces cover con- 
siderable areas adjoining Red and Sulphur rivers in the eastern part 
of the district. Between Annona and New Boston nearly all of the 
country between the two rivers is of this type. 

A marked feature of this and adjoining parts of the Coastal Plain 
is the presence of low mounds composed of sand, which occur over all 
the region except that covered by the most recent fluviatile deposits. 
These mounds are commonly from 2 to 3 feet high, though a few 
attain a maximum height of 6 feet. Some are elliptical; most of them 
are circular and are from 20 to 100 feet in diameter. The tendency 
toward elongation appears to be more marked in some places than in 
others, the longer axis usually extending in a northeast-southwest 
direction. As remarked by Veatch, they are particularly abundant 
in the terrace areas, where in wet weather they form low sandy islands 
in the midst of a water-covered clay country. 

DRAINAGE. 

The drainage of the region is effected mainly by Sulphur River, 
which flows from west to east entirely across the district. A feature 
of the drainage is the greater development of the southeastward- 
flowing system of tributaries, those flowing to the northeast being 
relatively few and for the most part unimportant. From this it fol- 
lows that the divides are located much nearer the main streams on 
the south side than on the north, and the northward-facing slopes are 
shorter and steeper, a feature consequent upon the general coastward 
slope of the original plain surface and the effort of the streams to 
adjust themselves to the rock structure of the region. A small area 
in the southern part of Hopkins County is drained by tributaries of 
Sabine River, and the larger part of the region lying to the east is 
drained into Ferry Lake through Big Cypress and other creeks. 
Ferry Lake connects with Sodo and Cross lakes in Caddo Parish, 
La., these together constituting one body of water which occupies the 
lower portion of the valley of Big Cypress Creek. This body of water 
belongs to the class of lakes in the Red River Valley whose origin is 
attributed to log jams. 1 

The main streams and their tributaries that have cut to the level of 
ground water flow throughout the year, but many of the branches are 
wet-weather streams only. The soft rocks over which the streams 
flow yield to them an abundance of fine material, which is carried in 
suspension for long distances, discoloring the water and forming in 
quieter stretches of the streams grayish or brownish red deposits. 

i Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 60-62. 



10 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATEES OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

LITERATURE. 

Most of the published accounts of investigations heretofore made 
in northeastern Texas are found in the reports of the Texas Geo- 
logical Survey and of the United States Geological Survey. In 
two reports only are the waters of the region specially considered. 
Hill * in his exhaustive report on the geography and geology of the 
Black and Grand prairies of Texas gives detailed descriptions of 
the Cretaceous formations with special reference to the underground 
waters and all information available concerning the counties adjoin- 
ing Red River. Veatch, in his report on the geology and under- 
ground water resources of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, 
has included some data bearing on the eastern part of the region. 
With these exceptions, the publications relating to the region, a 
fairly complete list of which follows, deal chiefly with questions of 
stratigraphy and natural resources other than water. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Dumble, E. T., Report on the brown coal and lignite of Texas: Geol. Survey of Texas, 
1892, pp. 17-243. Describes the Tertiary deposits of the Texas gulf coast in 
which the brown coals occur. Mentions coal in Bowie, Cass, Marion, Morris, 
Titus, and Hopkins counties. 

Penrose, R. A. F., Preliminary report on the geology of the Gulf Tertiary of Texas: 
First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1889, pp. 1-101. Discusses the stratig- 
raphy of the Tertiary formations of Texas and records briefly their occurrence 
in northeastern Texas (pp. 34-36). Describes the iron ores of eastern Texas, and 
mentions their occurrence in Cass and Marion counties (pp. 65-82). 

Hill, R. T., The Cretaceous rocks of Texas: First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 
1889, pp. 103-141. Relates chiefly to the stratigraphy of the Cretaceous in 
regions farther west than the area covered by this report, but has some reference 
to northeastern Texas. 

Geology of parts of Texas, Indian Territory, and Arkansas adjacent to Red 

River: Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 5, 1893, pp. 297-338. Annona, or "White 
Cliffs," chalk considered as belonging to higher horizon than the Austin chalk. 

: Geology and geography of the Black and Grand prairies, Texas : Twenty-first 

Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1899-1900. An exhaustive report on the 
Texas Cretaceous, with special reference to artesian waters. 

Kennedy, William, The iron ores of eastern Texas : Second Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey 
Texas, 1890, pp. 65-203. Cass County, pp. 65-95; Marion County, pp. 96-114; 
Morris County, pp. 173-182. 

The age of the iron ores of eastern Texas : Science, vol. 23, 1894, pp. 22-25. Notes 

greater development of the nodular iron ore in Cass, Marion, Morris, Upshur, 
and Harrison counties, asserts that their age is "Lower Claiborne" or later. 

The iron ores of eastern Texas: Trans. Am. Inst. Min. Eng., vol. 24, 1894, pp. 258- 

288, 862-863. 

The Eocene Tertiary of Texas east of the Brazos River: Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

Phila., 1895, pt. 1, pp. 89-160. Discusses the stratigraphy of the region and 
compares it with that east of the Mississippi as noted by Hilgard, Smith, and 
Johnson. 

1 Hill, R. T., Geography and geology of the Black and Grand prairies of Texas: Twenty-first Ann. Rept. 
U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901. 



GEOLOGIC HISTOKY. 11 

Johnson, Lawrence C, The iron regions of northern Louisiana and eastern Texas: 
House Doc. No. 195, 50th Cong., 1st. sess., 54 pp., 1 map, Washington, 1888. 

Taff, J. A., Report on the Cretaceous area north of the Colorado River: Third Ann. 
Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1891, pp. 269-379; map by J. A. Taff and S. Leverett. 
Descriptions of the Texas Cretaceous in this paper relate chiefly to regions in the 
central part of the State. Contains brief discussion of estimates of depths of arte- 
sian wells in Lamar and Fannin counties (pp. 371-373). 

and S. Leverett, Report on the Cretaceous area north of the Colorado River: 

Fourth Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1892, pt. 1, pp. 239-354. Continues 
discussion in the Third Annual Report (1891) and describes with considerable 
detail the occurrence and extent of the subterranean artesian basins. 

Chalk of southwestern Arkansas: Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. 



Survey, 1900-1901, pt. 3, pp. 685-742. Discusses the stratigraphy of south- 
western Arkansas and its relation to that of Texas. Correlates the " White Cliffs " 
chalk with the Austin chalk of the Texas region. 

Veatch, A. C, Geology and underground water resources of northern Louisiana and 
southern Arkansas: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906. Includes many 
facts bearing on the geology and underground waters of northeastern Texas. Fol- 
lows Hill in assigning the "White Cliffs, " or Annona, chalk to a higher horizon 
than the Austin chalk. 

Gordon, C. H., The chalk formations of northern Texas: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., 
vol. 27, 1909, pp. 369-373. Correlates "White Cliffs" and Annona chalk with 
the upper part of the Austin group, the lower part being represented by the 
Brownstown marl. 

GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 

PRE-CRETACEOTJS. 

In the mountains of eastern Oklahoma, as shown by Taff/ the rock 
exposures appear to indicate that deposition was continuous from 
very early geologic time down to the close of the Pennsylvanian 
("Coal Measures") epoch. Similar conditions prevailed in central 
Texas, where rocks representing all the divisions of the Paleozoic, with 
the possible exception of the Devonian, occur in conformable sequence 
resting upon the beveled edges of an older series of sedimentary rocks, 
the pre-Cambrian Llano series. 2 In western Texas and western 
Oklahoma these rocks grade upward without a break into deposits 
with Permian and Triassic affinities. 

Throughout this area and to the northwest a sea existed, over whose 
bottom a vast thickness* of sediments was laid down. The thickness 
of the Cambro-Ordovician in Oklahoma is estimated by Taff x at 
12,000 feet and of the Devonian at 600 feet. Drake 3 estimates the 
thickness of the Carboniferous at 24,500 feet. The land mass from 
which these sediments were derived lay to the south and southeast, 
the relative positions of the land and ocean areas being thus in a sense 
the reverse of those now existing. 4 

i Tafl, J. A., Atoka folio (No. 79) and Tishomingo folio (No. 98), Geol. Atlas U. S., IT. S. Geol. Survey. 
1902 and 1903. 

2 Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, p. 89. 

3 Drake, N. F., Proc. Am. Philos. Soc, vol. 36, 1898, p. 361. 

* Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper IT. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, p. 17. 



12 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Near the close of the Carboniferous the offshore belt of greatest 
sedimentation, extending from central Texas around through Okla- 
homa and Arkansas across the Mississippi Valley and connecting with 
the great trough now represented in the Appalachian chain, was 
subjected to profound folding and was elevated into a mountain range 
overlooking a sea extending to the west and to the north. Following 
this came a long period representing Triassic and Jurassic time, during 
which the elevations were worn down and the materials deposited in 
the adjacent seas. The lapse of time represented in the truncated 
edges of the folded and faulted strata was evidently very great. Then 
came a southward tilting of the region whereby land and water con- 
ditions were reversed and the sea transgressed northward over a 
relatively smooth base-leveled plain. 

CRETACEOUS. 

With the advent of the Cretaceous, ushered in by the northward 
transgression of the sea, marine sedimentation took place, the mate- 
rials being derived from the land areas on the north and west. These 
deposits consist of alternations of sands, clays, marls, and limestones^ 
and their character and relations show that many changes took place 
in the position of the shore lines and that the depth of the sea over 
the depressed land areas varied greatly from time to time. 

If the prevailing doctrine that limestones and marls indicate deep- 
water conditions be strictly held, the alternations of sands, chalks, and 
marls of the Upper Cretaceous indicate a complex series of movements 
in the Texas-Arkansas region, but to interpret in terms of crustal 
oscillation the alternations of formations indicating quiet conditions 
of deposition — such as limestones, shales, and clays — seems to the 
writer untenable. Although the accepted doctrine may be broadly 
admitted, it seems probable that beds corresponding to those usually 
classed as deep-sea deposits may be locally formed by causes other 
than the lowering of the sea bottom; for instance, the shifting of 
currents or the extension of barriers, however produced, will be 
registered in the character of the formations, and such changes as 
these may take place locally without change of elevation. Fluctua- 
tions of level did occur, however, irregularly over the whole region, 
the result being a warping which caused one shore line to cut obliquely 
across that of a preceding period, giving rise to the present wedge- 
shaped outcrops with the point of the wedge directed northeast in 
the direction of greatest depression. These relations are well shown 
in the map (fig. 2, p. 18), 1 indicating the position of the shore line at 
different stages in the process of adjustment to the warping surface. 
In the early stages of advance the sea transgressed far to the west 

1 Veatch, A. C, Geology and underground-water resources of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas: 
Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, fig. 3, p. 18. 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 13 

over western Texas into New Mexico. At the close of the Cretaceous 
it had withdrawn on the west, but continued depression toward the 
northeast had marked out the Mississippi embayment, the sub- 
mergence of which continued into late Oligocene time. Owing to the 
transgression of the shore line in the Mississippi embayment, accom- 
panied by the withdrawal of the sea on the west, the earlier formations 
are overlapped by the later, and in consequence the outcrops wedge 
out toward the northeast, in Arkansas. 

POST-CR-ETACEOTJS. 

Upon the Upper Cretaceous beds in the south half of the district lie 
sands, clays, and ferruginous sandstones belonging to the Eocene. 
No stratigraphic break has been recognized between the two systems. 
Originally, the Eocene doubtless extended much farther north, cover- 
ing the whole of the area here considered, the present exposures of the 
lower formations being due to the removal of the Eocene sediments 
by erosion. 

At the beginning of the Eocene there was evidently a slight warp- 
ing of the surface which allowed the ocean to advance farther up 
the Mississippi embayment than before. As a result the early 
Eocene beds slightly overlap upon the Cretaceous, though no strati- 
graphic break marks the close of the Cretaceous in the Gulf region. 
A marked change appears in the animal life, however, an entirely 
new fauna making its appearance. Dana suggests 1 that this abrupt 
change in animal life is perhaps due to an alteration in the direction 
and character of the ocean currents, with the consequent change in 
temperature and food supply, and to the destructive effects of earth- 
quake waves resulting from the gigantic disturbances which produced 
the Rocky Mountains rather than to a time lapse. 

Throughout the region in the epoch succeeding the Midway — 
that is, in the interval represented by the Wilcox formation, of the 
Eocene series — near-shore or swampy conditions prevailed with an 
occasional submergence by the ocean. 

No Oligocene or Miocene deposits have been recognized in this 
part of northeastern Texas. The Miocene was essentially a period of 
erosion in this region, and if deposits of Oligocene age were laid 
down here they were largely removed during the Miocene epoch. 

During the succeeding epoch (Pliocene) a mantle of sand, silt, and 
gravel was spread over the eroded surface. Again erosion followed, 
during which much of the material previously deposited was carried 
away or rearranged at lower levels. Pleistocene deposition suc- 
ceeded, giving rise to marine sedimentation along the coasts and 
fluviatile deposits on the land (Port Hudson formation). This was 

1 Manual of Geology, 4th ed., 1895, pp. 877-878. 



14 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

followed by another period of erosion, in which the present flood 
plains and principal terraces were formed, this constituting the 
closing stage of the Pleistocene. The present cycle is represented 
in the surficial flood-plain deposition and hill-land erosion now in 
progress. 

GEOLOGY. 

The geologic formations that outcrop in the district may be classed 
as (1) Upper Cretaceous, (2) lower Tertiary, and (3) surficial deposits. 
The Cretaceous includes the Comanche series (Lower Cretaceous) as 
well as the Gulf series (Upper Cretaceous), but only the latter appears 
at the surface in the district. 

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM. 

COMANCHE SERIES (LOWER CRETACEOUS). 

Lower Cretaceous beds do not appear at the surface in northeastern 
Texas, but outcrop in eastern Oklahoma on the north side of Red 




Figure 1.— Diagrammatic section of the Cretaceous rocks in northern Texas and southwestern Arkansas. 
(After Taff.) 1, White chalk; 2, blue marl; 3, sands at base of Upper Cretaceous; 4, Lower Creta- 
ceous limestone; 5, sand at base of Lower Cretaceous. Reproduced from Twenty-second Ann. Rept. 
U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1902, p. 697. 

River and farther northeast, in Arkansas. The lowest formation, 
known as the Trinity sand, is composed of fine, clean sand with occa- 
sional pebbles and bowlders of white quartz and other crystalline rock 
derived from the old Paleozoic land surface. In some places the 
sands are interlaminated with thin layers and lenses of clay; in other 
places they contain vegetal remains and brackish-water shells. 
Throughout a large portion of the Black and Grand prairie region 
in Texas this formation constitutes an important water-bearing 
stratum, which supplies thousands of artesian wells, many of which 
flow. In northeastern Texas, however, the southward dip of the strata 
has carried these sands too far below the surface to be conveniently 
reached by the drill except in a relatively narrow belt along the 
south side of Red River in Lamar and Red River counties. 

The Trinity sand, which represents near-shore deposits, is suc- 
ceeded upward by the limestones and marls of the Fredericksburg 
and Washita groups, a change indicative of deeper water. The 
Fredericksburg group is represented by the Goodland limestone 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 



15 



and the Washita group by the Denison formation, Fort Worth lime- 
stone, and Preston formation. As the sea in which these sediments 
were deposited progressed northwestward upon the sinking land 
surface the lime formations lapped upon and graded into the sandy 
shore formations and hence are much thinner in this region than in 
the southern part of the State. 

The stratigraphic relations are shown in figure 1 (p. 14). 

GULF SERIES (UPPER CRETACEOUS). 



CLASSIFICATION. 



The sequence and lithologic character of the formations composing 
the Upper Cretaceous in northeastern Texas is shown in the accom- 
panying table, which includes also Veatch' s table for western Arkansas. 
The correlations are suggested by the author. Veatch considers the 
Annona and Brownstown to be equivalent to the lower part of the 
Navarro and Taylor, and the Bingen to be the littoral equivalent 
of the Woodbine, Eagle Ford, and Austin. 

Classification of the Upper Cretaceous in northeastern Texas and southwestern Arkansas. 



Northeastern Texas (Gordon). 


Southwestern Arkansas (Veatch). 


Formations. 


Character of rocks. 


Formations. 


Character of rocks. 




Arkadelphia clay. 


Dark-blue to black 
laminated clays. 
Sulphur Bluff. 


Arkadelphia clay. 


Black laminated 
clays. 


Navarro forma- 
tion and Tay- 
lor marl. 


Nacatoch sand. 


Green sands grading 
into marls below. 
Delta County. 


Nacatoch sand. 


Sand with occasional 
quartzitic layers. 




Marlbrook marl. 


Sandy and clay marls. 
Chalk at E n 1 o e 
Sands near Ladonia. 
Blue marly clay. 


Marlbrook marl. 


Very calcareous clay 
with marine fossils. 


Austin group. 


Annona chalk. 


White chalk. 


Annona chalk. 


White chalk. 


Brownstown marl. 


Blue clay marl. 


Brownstown marl. 


Blue calcareous clay. 


Eagle Ford clay. 


Blossom sand 
member. 


Sands and sandy clays 
interlaminated. 


Sub-Clarksville 
sand. 




Water-bearing sand. 






Dark laminated clays. 


Eagle Ford clay. 


Blue calcareous clay. 










Lignitiferous sands, 
sandy clays, and 
sandstones. 


Woodbine sand. 


Lignitiferous sands 
and clays with 
plant remains. 


Woodbine sand. 





With the exception of the chalks, the rocks are characterized for 
the most part by a general lack of consolidation. The marls and 
clays especially disintegrate readily, yielding a thick mantle of black 
soil through which the underlying formations rarely protrude. No 
stratigraphic breaks occur within the Upper Cretaceous, and the 
gradations between its different formations is so gradual that these 
can be mapped in most places only with the greatest difficulty, if at all. 



16 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

The chief exposures of the rocks of the gulf series occur in the 
northwestern part of the area between South Fork of Sulphur River 
and Red River. Farther east, in Texas, these formations are covered 
by surficial deposits which consist largely of unconsolidated sands, 
clays, and marls, and some indurated beds of sandstone and chalk. 
The beds dip southeastward at a low angle, at a rate of about 50 to 
55 feet per mile, in the district north of North Fork. In their east- 
ward extension and also where they lie under cover toward the south, 
as indicated by the few well records available, they appear to have a 
steeper dip. 

WOODBINE SAND. 

The Woodbine consists of ferruginous and argillaceous sands 
accompanied by bituminous laminated clays. The sands are for 
the most part unconsolidated and contain many remains of plants, 
a feature which distinguishes them from other Upper Cretaceous 
formations. When unweathered the sands appear white and friable, 
but contain more or less iron in the form of pyrite and glauconite as 
well as other ingredients, which on decomposing .materially affect 
the character of the waters derived from them. In places solutions 
of the oxidized iron minerals have consolidated the sands into dark- 
brown ferruginous sandstone or siliceous iron ore. In large part the 
sands break down into deep loose soils. The clays are laminated and 
are for the most part impure, sandy, and lignitic. In northeast Texas 
the formation is characterized by the presence of argillaceous and 
calcareous layers interlaminated with the sand and by the occurrence 
of plant remains in considerable numbers, together with a peculiar 
molluscan fauna. A large part of the plant collection noted by Hill 
was obtained by Vaughan at Arthurs Bluff on Red River in Lamar 
County. 

The Woodbine sand underlies the area adjacent to Red River in 
the northern part of Lamar and Red River counties and as far west 
as Dexter in Cooke County. From Red River it extends southward 
coextensively with the lower cross-timber country, but has not been 
recognized south of Brazos River. The region of its outcrop is 
generally characterized by a loose sandy soil, mostly covered with 
coarse post-oak and black-jack timber, here and there broken by 
small prairies where the beds contain an increased proportion of 
clay. From Red River to the Brazos the western boundary of the 
belt is marked by a range of low hills and knobs whose existence is 
due to the greater resistance to erosion offered by the more consoli- 
dated ferruginous beds of the lower part of the formation (called 
Dexter sand by Taff and Hill). The Woodbine is traversed for 
miles by Red River, but owing to its unconsolidated character and 
its covering of timber and alluvial deposits exposures of it are infre- 




LEGEND 

SURFICIAL DEPOSITS 



Ofp 



£ Flootl -plain deposit 
^ i / -rct/ir silts niut clay s 



Qt 



Port Hudson, formation. 

(Sands, Silts, 
and clays) 

CONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS 



Tew 



WllcoxCSabiae) formation. 
(tixjniiiterous sands cuid clays) 



Temw 



Midway and Wilcox: 
fcnmauons'\mdifferentiated 
(days wan some sand and 
limestone) 



Knvt 



111 



iJavarro formation and 
Taylor marl undifferentiated. | 
(Ctay,fflaHcomticsands,ca' 
maris with some chalk) 



Ka 



Annona chalk 



Kb 



Brownstown marl 



Kefb 



Kefl 



Eagle Ford clay 
(clay with lenses of l&aestone 
and at top Blossom, sand 
member* ( Kefb ) ) 



Kw 



"Woodbine sand 
( with lentils of clay) 



^ 



Kd 



Denison formation 
(limestone and shales) 



Wm 



FortWorth. limestone 
(limestone wall some shales) 



Preston formation 
(limestones andsliales) 



Goodland limestone 



Trinity sand 
(sands and laminated clays) 



I°SI 



s°Ti| 




nm 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 17 

quent, occurring only in undermining bluffs, as at Arthurs Bluff 
north of Paris and at Pine Bluff in the northeast part of Lamar 
County. At Rock Ford, in Red River County, sand, in part glaucon- 
itic, occurs in the bluffs, which also show near the top several layers 
of white fossiliferous limestone. The area in which the Woodbine 
outcrops in northeastern Texas is shown approximately on the map 

(pi. i). 

In this region the formation has an estimated thickness of 600 to 
800 feet. In the Paris well the drill penetrated 820 feet of sand and 
clay beds which have been assigned to the Woodbine; some of the 
lower beds, however, may belong to the underlying Denison forma- 
tion. Southward it diminishes in thickness until it disappears by 
overlap in the vicinity of the Brazos. Eastward in Arkansas the 
Woodbine, there called the Bingen sand, coalesces, according to 
Veatch, 1 with the sands at the top of the Eagle Ford (Blossom sand 
member) by the thinning out of the intervening Eagle Ford clay. 
According to Veatch, therefore, the Bingen sand, which is the litho- 
logical counterpart of the Woodbine sand in Texas, is the time equiva- 
lent of all the beds of the Upper 2 Cretaceous below the Brownstown 
marl. (See fig. 2.) 

As the Brownstown was considered by Veatch to lie immediately 
above the Austin chalk, the conclusion was drawn that the Bingen 
sand contained the littoral equivalents of the Austin and the Eagle 
Ford. 3 

EAGLE FORD CLAY. 

Character. — The lower two-thirds of the Eagle Ford formation in 
northeastern Texas consists chiefly of dark, laminated clays, and the 
upper 50 to 75 feet is made up of brown, ferruginous, glauconitic 
sands interlaminated with clay. Inasmuch as the upper sandy beds 
constitute a water horizon of some value, a subdivision of the for- 
mation based on lithological distinctions seems warranted. To 
the upper sandy portion, therefore, the term Blossom sand member 
is applied, from the town of Blossom, which is located in eastern 
Lamar County upon the outcrop of the beds. 4 

Thickness. — The total thickness of the Eagle Ford clay in this 
region, as recognized in the Paris well section (p. 45), is 600 feet. 
This well is located directly upon the outcrop of the Blossom sand 
member and it doubtless includes very nearly the full thickness of 
the beds. Eighty feet of the sands was penetrated, the whole of 

i Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 23-24. 

2 Veatch says "Lower" Cretaceous, but this is evidently a typographical error. 

3 Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, p. 18. 
* Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 27, 1902, pp. 371,373. 

87985°— wsp 276—11 2 



18 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

which with the exception of a few feet of soil is regarded as represent- 
ing the Blossom. The formation thins rapidly eastward, there being 
but 174 feet of hard sands that can be referred to this formation in 
the Texarkana well (p. 59), east of which it is not known. 

Fossils. — As a whole the Eagle Ford is not very fossiliferous except 
in the upper arenaceous division (Blossom sand member). A few 




Quaternary. Tertiary with 

Quaternary covering Cretaceous 
in flood plains. 

Figuke 2. — Map showing overlap of Upper Cretaceous on Lower Cretaceous and of Tertiary on Cretaceous 
in the Mississippi Valley. (After Veatch.) 

forms of Ammonites preserved with their nacreous shell coloring 
occur sparingly throughout the formation, and the blue limestone 
concretions are generally filled with the remains of certain inverte- 
brate forms. In addition to an abundance of fish remains, chiefly 
teeth, the Blossom sand member contains an abundance of the 
characteristic forms Ostrea lugubris = 0. belliplicata, Inoceramusfragilis, 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 19 

/. labiatus, and a small form like 0. congesta. Hill 1 gives the 
following list of fossils obtained from the Eagle Ford formation: 



Natica striatacostata Cragin. 

Neritopsis biangulatus Shumard. 

Ostrea lugubris Conrad=0. belliplicata 

Shum. 
Ostrea sp. (like O. congesta). 
Inoceramus fragilis Hall and Meek. 
I. labiatus Schlotheim. 
Fish teeth. 



Planticeras syrtalis Mort. var. cumminsi 

Cragin . 
Ammonites woolgari Mort. 
Sphenodiscus dumb lei Cragin. 
Buchiceras inequiplicatus Shumard. 
B. swallowi Shum. 
Tapes hilgardi Shum. 
Anchura modesta Cragin. 
Fusus graysonensis Cragin . 

Lower clays. — The lower part of the formation consists essentially 
of blue and black laminated bituminous clays accompanied by thin 
laminated clay limestones and nodular sept aria of blue limestone; 
thin laminae of sand occur in this portion, showing a gradual transi- 
tion from the Woodbine sand below. The central and larger part of 
the formation is made up of blue and black marly clays, which 
include thin beds of arenaceous limestone and numerous hard nodular 
septaria, some of which attain a diameter of 3 feet; these septaria 
are composed of dense blue limestone with cross fissures filled with 
calcite and selenite. Selenite in minute crystals is disseminated gen- 
erally through the clays, in places in considerable quantities, and the 
wate*r flowing through these beds is generally bitter and disagreeable 
to the taste. 

The clays constitute a belt of prairie extending east and west across 
Lamar and Red River counties north of the Texas Pacific Railway, 
and bounded on the north by the Woodbine sand and on the south 
by a narrow strip of sandy land representing the outcrop of the Blos- 
som sand member. The outcrops of the clay make the black waxy 
land north of Paris. 

• Blossom sand member. 2 — The clays of the Eagle Ford grade upward 
into brown sandy ferruginous glauconitic beds interlaminated with 
thin beds of clay. The clays are filled with fossilif erous concretionary 
masses of limestone similar to those in the middle part of the forma- 
tion; in places these weather out as bowlders. Locally the sands are 
highly fossilif erous, some layers being composed in large part of the 
casts of shells. The full thickness of these beds was not observed in 
the area to which this report relates, but at Sherman (2 miles west 
of the area) the following succession occurs . 3 

1 Hill, R. T., Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, p. 328. 

2 Blossom sand member = "sub-Clarksville" sand of Veatch, Prof. Paper TJ. S. Geol. Survey No. 46. 
"Fish beds" of Taff and Hill=Blossom sand member (in part). Ostrea bel'iplicata bed of Taff= Blossom 
sand member (in part). 

3 Hill, R. T., Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1899-1900, p. 326. 



20 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Section of Blossom sand member at Sherman, Tex. 

Feet. 

6. Sandy clay shales with Ostrea lugubris 10 

5. Thin slabs of brown sandstone with rounded conglomerate of 

jasper pebble. Ostrea lugubris and fish teeth 5 

4. Blue laminated clay, weathering into limonitic colors 10 

3 . Massive agglomerate of shells of Ostrea lugubris 2 

2. Sandy clay shale in thin alternations of clay and sand; clay 

efflorescent and drab colored on drying; contains Ostrea lugubris. 40 

67 

The description given in the section of the beds at Sherman corre- 
sponds well with the character of the strata as they appear in Lamar 
and Red River counties. 

The outcrop of the Blossom sand member extends in a band 
approximately a mile in width from a point nearly north of Annona, 
where Pecan Bayou intersects the bluff of Red River, to the western 
limit of the area, except where interrupted by overlying Quaternary 
formations. Outcrops occur at different places along the south side 
of Pecan Bayou, which flows for the greater part of its course on the 
formation; and in Lamar County they appear almost continuous 
along a line through Blossom and Paris, both of which places are 
located upon these beds. On the south the sands are bounded by 
the black waxy soils derived from the marly clays of the Brownstown 
marl, the lower formation of the Austin group. Four miles north of 
Clarksville the contact of the Blossom sand member with the over- 
lying Brownstown marl was observed in a ravine. The section 
obtained here was as follows : 

Section in ravine 4 miles north of Clarksville. 

Brownstown marl: Feet. 

7. Clay marl with an abundance of Exogyra ponderosa in the 

lower 12 inches 6 

Blossom sand member of Eagle Ford clay : 

6. Sand, in places mixed with marly clay 3 

5. Blue marly clay (exposed) 6 

4. Covered (about) 10 

3. Yellow sand with fossil impressions 10 

2. Drab fissile clay 2 

1. Yellow sand above, grading into drab arenaceous clay below. 

Contains iron concretions showing impressions of fossils 20 

57 

From 10 to 20 feet below the top of these beds in Grayson County, 
as described by Taff, 1 is a bed of coarse sand or grit, in places a 
conglomerate, called the "Fish bed," from the large number of fish 
teeth contained in it. This bed was not definitely recognized in 
Lamar and Red River counties. The beds are generally highly fos- 

i Taff, J. A., Fourth Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, p. 303. 



GEOLOGIC HTSTOEY. 21 

siliferous, though in general the material is in a friable condition, 
owing to weathering and oxidation. Ostreas (Ostrea lugubris^O. 
belliplicata) are numerous and in places farther west make up most 
of certain beds to which the term " shell bed " very appropriately 
applies. 

The Blossom sand member, though comparatively insignificant 
stratigraphically, is important, because it constitutes the only avail- 
able water-bearing horizon over a considerable portion of south 
Lamar and Red River counties. It is from this sand that the water 
supply at Clarksville is obtained, a fact which, in the absence of 
known outcrops, led Veatch * to give it the name "sub-Clarksville" 
sand. At Paris, according to the well record given on page 45, 
these sands have a thickness of 80 feet. 

AUSTIN GROUP. 

General character and relations. — From Sherman in Grayson County 
southward to the Colorado in Travis County the Austin chalk consti- 
tutes the most persistent and characteristic formation of the Cretaceous 
in Texas. Throughout this area its thickness is estimated by Taff to 
be about 600 feet. From the base to the top the rock consists for the 
most part of soft bluish- white chalk, chiefly in beds from 2 to 6 feet 
thick, interspersed here and there by a succession of thinner layers. 
The beds are generally separated by very thin sheets of calcareous 
marl, which in places thicken to 3 to 12 inches. Toward the top the 
beds become more massive, being from 4 to 6 feet thick, with very 
little separating marl between them. 

Interstratified with the soft layers in places are nonpersistent 
harder arenaceous layers, which on weathering project in rounded 
subangular surfaces. 

On weathering, the chalk loses the bluish cast seen in fresh expo- 
sures and becomes white or cream colored. It usually has an earthy 
texture and when fresh can be readily cut with a handsaw. Here 
and there nests of pyrites and crevices filled with calcite appear. 
Under the microscope 2 the material shows calcite crystals, minute 
amorphous calcite, and the shells of foraminif ers, mollusks, echinoids, 
and other marine organic debris such as usually constitute chalk 
formations. 

From Sherman eastward the basal portion of the Austin becomes 
more argillaceous and assumes the character of clay marl or marly 
clay. Beginning at the base in the vicinity of Sherman this change 
in character reaches higher and higher as the formation extends east- 
ward until at Atlas, Clarksville, and White Rock north of Annona in 
Texas and at White Cliffs in Arkansas only the uppermost beds pre- 

i Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, p. 25. 

2 Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1899-1900, p. 329. 



22 GEOLOGY AND GROTJHD WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

sent the character of true chalk. Among previous writers Taff * seems 
to be the only one who recognized the true relations of the chalk depos- 
its of northeastern Texas and southwestern Arkansas. The state- 
ments by this author accord so well with the independent conclusions 
of the writer that they are given entire: 

The lower part of trie chalk formation of northern Texas changes to marl in the vicinity 
of Sherman, and still farther east higher beds successively become chalky marl, so that 
within a comparatively short distance only the upper part of the chalk formation as it 
occurs farther south is true chalk. In other words, the white chalk transgresses upward 
in the series of Cretaceous rocks from the vicinity of Sherman, Tex., eastward into 
Arkansas. 

• The fossils of the main chalk which are not found below the chalk in northern Texas 
south of Sherman occur in the chalky marl beneath the chalk from the vicinity of 
Paris, Tex., eastward. The fauna, including the characteristic species of fossils, such 
asExogyra ponderosa, Gryphsea vesicularis, Astrea larva, and others which occur only in 
the upper beds of the chalk in central Texas, are found in great abundance in the marl 
at the base of and beneath the white chalk in southwestern Arkansas. 2 

This chalk grows thinner in outcrop northeastward as it approaches the Paleozoic 
border and elevated mountain districts until it ends in chalky marl near the center of 
the Cretaceous area of southwestern Arkansas. 

Hill 3 considered the chalk near Annona and westward as represent- 
ing a higher horizon than the Austin chalk, w Inch he describes as having 
largely thinned out east of Paris, but says that its exact relationship 
is subject to later determination. To the marls underlying the chalk 
at White Cliffs, Ark., which he rightly considered the equivalent of 
the lovver part of the Annona chalk, he gave the name Brownstown. 
Veatch 4 appears to have accepted Hill's conclusions in assigning the 
Annona chalk to a higher horizon than the Austin, which he states 
does not appear east of Paris, Tex. In this he differs, however, from 
Hill, who states that l ' the most eastern outcrop of this chalk [Austin] 
is in little River County, in the southwest corner of Arkansas." 5 

The field work of 1906 and 1907 having settled conclusively that the 
Annona chalk corresponds to the upper beds of the Austin, and that 
the underlying Brownstown marl is the eastern equivalent of the 
lower portion of the same formation, it seems appropriate to include 
both of these under the term Austin group. 

Brownstown marl. — In Red River and Lamar counties and west to 
Sherman the Blossom sand member, constituting the uppermost beds 
of the Eagle Ford clay, grades rather abruptly into the light-blue cal- 
careous and sandy clay or marl (Brownstown) representing the lower 
formation of the Austin group. Toward the top the proportion of lime 
increases, so that the upper beds are decidedly chalky and in places 

i Taff, J. A., Twenty-second Ann. Kept. IT. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1900-1901, pp. 698-700. 

2 The writer's observations show these fossils to be present in northeastern Texas from the marls at the 
base of the chalk up to the marls of the Navarro formation. 

3 Hill, R. T., op. cit., p. 341. 

< Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, p. 19. 
s Hill, P. T., op. cit., p. 330. 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 23 

grade horizontally into true clialk. This variation in the composition 
of the Austin group gives rise to variation in the relative thickness of 
the chalk and marl divisions and in the relative width of their out- 
crops, the one varying inversely as the other. Four miles south of 
Paris the marls appear on fresh exposure bluish-white and chalky, 
much resembling chalk, but softer. On weathering they become drab 
to yellowish-brown, grading upward into a black waxy soil. The 
lower portions are more arenaceous, forming along the northern bor- 
der of the formation outcrop a strip of soil called "mixed land" or 
"tallow-ridge land." The width of the outcrop of the marls south of 
Paris is from 5 to 6 miles, indicating a thickness of about 300 feet, 
while that of the overlying chalk on the south is correspondingly less- 
ened. The chalk belt widens toward the east and west, the marl belt 
narrowing to a mile or less north of Annona. The marls here pass 
under the later Quaternary deposits along with the overlying Annona 
and higher beds, but they evidently thicken rapidly eastward, for 
according to Veatch they have a thickness in southwestern Arkansas 
of 600 feet, thinning out again to about 150 feet in the eastern part of 
the area. 1 

The name Brownstown, as shown by Veatch, was first applied by 
Hill 2 to marl beds typically developed at Brownstown, Ark., the strat- 
igraphic position of which was not recognized until later. 3 As now 
defined, the term includes the blue marly clays and clay marls between 
the Blossom sand member of the Eagle Ford and-the Annona chalk in 
Texas and the equivalent beds in Arkansas which rest upon the 
Bingen sand, which is considered to be the representative of the Eagle 
Ford clay and the Woodbine sand as developed in Texas. 

Annona chalk. — The chalk beds constituting the upper formation 
of the Austin group in northeastern Texas were named Annona chalk 
by Hill, 4 who correctly recognized their equivalency to the chalk occur- 
ring on Little River in Arkansas, to which he had previously applied 
the term White Cliffs chalk. 5 The formation consists of bluish and 
creamy white chalk similar to the corresponding beds of the Austin 
chalk farther south. At White Cliffs, Ark., the chalk beds are about 
100 feet in thickness and underlain by argillaceous chalk marl grading 
downward into sandy chalk marl. 6 The exposures in Texas are less 

i Veatch, A. C, op. cit., p. 25. 

2 Hill, R. T., Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1888, vol. 2, pp. 86-87; Bull. Geol. Soc. America, 
vol. 1894, p. 302, pi. 12. 

3 Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, p. 340. 

* Hill, R. T., Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 5, 1894, p. 308 (there spelled Anona); Twenty-first Ann. 
Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1899-1900, p. 340-341. In the former paper Hill says: "It is not known 
what has become of the Austin chalk in this section (Paris), but my hypothesis, backed by some evidence, 
is that to the southward it has been faulted down. The Annona (White Cliffs) chalk is an entirely distinct 
and higher bed." In the later publication he says: "The writer has considered this chalk (Annona) tc 
represent a higher horizon than the Austin, but its exact relationship is subject to future determination." 

5 Hill, R. T., Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Arkansas for 1888, vol. 1888, pp. 87-89. 

6Taff, J. A., Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1902, pp. 706-707. 



24 



GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 



extensive, but so far as can be determined the rock presents essentially 
the same characters near Annona and westward to Sherman. 

The first appearance of the chalk in Texas is to the north of Annona 
in Red River County, from which place it takes its name. At this 
point its outcrop is about 4 miles in width and is cut off on the east 
by deposits of Quaternary age. From this point the chalk extends 
west through Clarksville, Atlas, and Roxton in Lamar County, and 
thence west to Sherman. From Atlas the northern border swings 
northward to Petty on the Texas & Pacific Railway, thence west- 
ward about a mile north of Honey Grove. About 3 miles west of 
Clarksville the exposures of chalk and accompanying marls are inter- 
rupted by Quaternary deposits, partly filling a broad shallow valley 
now occupied by the headwater branches of Cuthand Creek. 

The composition of the chalk is shown by the following analyses: 

Analyses of the Austin chalk. 





1 


2 


3 


4 


5 




82.51 

11.45 

3.61 

1.19 


84.48 

9.77 

1.25 

Trace. 


84.14 

10.14 

4.04 

a 1.68 


90.15 
5.77 
2.14 

.58 


70.21 




23.55 




1.50 


Magnesia 


.58 




a Mg and H 2 0. 













1. Texas chalk; locality not given. Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1899- 
1900, p. 329. 

2. Rocky Comfort, Arkansas (Annona chalk). Idem. 

3. Annona chalk, 7 miles south of Paris. Analysis furnished «by J. A. Porter, Paris, Tex. 

4. Quarry of the Alamo Cement Works, 3 miles north of San Antonio, Tex. Average material used in 
the manufacture of cement. Twenty-second Ann. Rept. XJ. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, p. 737. 

5. Average fresh rock from quarry of the Texas Portland Cement Works," 3 miles west of Dallas, Tex. 
Lower 20 feet of white chalk. Twenty-second Ann. Rept. XJ. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, p. 737. 

With complete disintegration the Annona chalk breaks down into 
a black waxy soil similar to that of adjacent formations. As a rule, 
however, owing to its greater hardness, the soil is thin and less pro- 
ductive than adjoining areas. Over the area where it constitutes the 
surface formation its outcrops are conspicuous in all the slopes and 
drainage ways by reason of their glaring white color. 

The Austin chalk is characterized by many fossils, of which large 
specimens of Inoceramus cripsi var. bambini Morton and Exogyra 
ponderosa Roemer are conspicuous from the base to the top. As 
these fossils occur also in the formations above the Austin, they do 
not constitute a reliable means of discrimination. Hill has given 
several other forms as occurring in the Austin, such as Exogyra 
Iseviuscula Roemer, Gryphsea aucella Roemer, and Hemiaster texanus 
Roemer. 1 

The thickness of the Austin group as revealed by the Clarksville 
wells corresponds closely with the estimate given by TafT for the 

i Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, p. 336. 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 25 

central Texas region (p. 21). In the Clarksville wells the water- 
bearing sands (Blossom sand member) were reached at a depth of 
about 600 feet. The drill is reported to have passed through "white 
rock'' all the way, the lower portion being softer. As the wells are 
located very near the top of the Annona chalk, these figures may be 
considered a close approximation of the thickness of the Austin 
group in this locality. 

TAYLOR MARL AND NAVARRO FORMATION. 

Attempted differentiations. — Above the Austin group occurs a series 
of beds of calcareous clays, chalk}' marls, and greensands, the differ- 
entiation of which is rendered extremely difficult by reason of the 
unindurated character of the material and the consequent lack of 
good exposures. 

Numerous efforts have been made by Hill and others to classify 
these beds, but the results have been unsatisfactory. Taff 1 divided 
the Cretaceous rocks above the Austin chalk in central Texas 
into (1) Greensancl marl; (2) Marly flags, 100 feet; (3) Ponderosa 
marl, 1,000 feet; and (4) Chalk marl, 100 feet. In his latest report 
on the Texas Cretaceous, Hill divided the Upper Cretaceous into two 
divisions, the lower of which he called the Taylor marl and the upper 
the Navarro formation, a name originally proposed by Shumard. In 
northeastern Texas he divides 2 the Navarro into Arkadelphia beds, 
Washington beds, Annona chalk, Roxton beds, and Brownstown beds. 
As it is now clear that the Annona and the Brownstow T n represent the 
Austin, the overlying Taylor marl must be represented in part at 
least by the marls overlying the Annona, to which Hill originally 
applied 3 the name "Kickapoo." He states that the formation bears 
a growth of hardwood, including Bois d'Arc, and adds "this is the 
only marly terrane in the entire range of Cretaceous formations in 
Texas which is covered by arborescent vegetation." 

In Arkansas the equivalents of the Navarro and Taylor forma- 
tions, as made out by Hill and Veatch, are as follows: 

Arkansas equivalents of the Navarro formation and Taylor marl. 

3. Arkadelphia clay: Dark laminated clays; 200 to 500 feet. 

2. Nacatoch sand: Glauconitic sands and thin ledges of calcareous sandstones; 
60 to 160 feet. 

1. Marlbrook marl: Blue chalky glauconitic marls; in places, impure chalk. A 
chalky layer, 20 to 50 feet thick, which occurs 200 to 300 feet above the base, is called 
the "Saratoga" chalk member. Thickness, 50 to 750 feet. 

i Third Ann. Rept. Texas Geol. Survey, 1891, pp. 354-359. 

2 Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, p. 340. In describing the "Washington beds" 
the author states that they "surmount the Brownstown marls," evidently an error carried over from his 
earlier descriptions wherein the Brownstown marl was considered as being above the Annona chalk. 

3 Hill, R. T., Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 5, p. 308, 1893. 



26 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Hill recognizes two lithologic phases of the upper part of the 
Navarro in the region north of the Brazos. The lower division, called 
by him the "Corsicana beds/' consists of brown sandy marl with an 
occasional bed of hard, calcareous sandstone. Limestone concre- 
tions and a few bands of limestone occurring in these beds suggest the 
formations occurring in the vicinity of Cooper, Delta County. The 
upper division, which he called the "Kemp beds," consists of a yellow 
clay with nodules which apparently corresponds to the beds observed 
one-half mile north of Sulphur Bluff. However, very little informa- 
tion is available concerning the relation of these beds. 

Character and thickness. — No satisfactory data bearing on the thick- 
ness of the Navarro and Taylor formations in this region are available. 
They are estimated to have a combined thickness of about 1,000 to 
1,200 feet. The Sulphur Springs well shows 381 feet of blue shale 
with some sand, which evidently represent in part the Arkadelphia 
clay and Nacatoch sand. 

Although well-marked correspondence with the Arkansas section 
can be made out in the character and sequence of the formations in 
Delta and adjoining counties, the lack of good exposures due to the 
unconsolidated character of the beds renders the definition of forma- 
tion boundaries impracticable, and the whole is mapped as a unit. 

At the base of the section in southern Lamar County a clay marl 
containing varying proportions of sand, and having an estimated 
thickness of 100 to 150 feet, forms a deep black soil in which no out- 
crops appear. This marl grades upward into fine marly sands con- 
taining thin ledges of limestone or chalk. These beds are exposed at 
Ladonia (PI. II, A), Wolfe City, and elsewhere along a narrow belt 
extending from the northeast part of Delta County westward along 
the south side of North Fork as far west as Ladonia and thence 
southwestward through Wolfe City. Above the sands lies a highly 
calcareous marl or impure chalk, 20 to 50 feet thick, corresponding 
in position and character to the "Saratoga" chalk member of the 
Arkansas section. These beds are exposed in the slopes of North 
Fork about 2 miles north of Enloe, south of Ladonia, and in the 
vicinity of Fairlie in Hunt County. 

The chalky beds grade upward into unconsolidated arenaceous 
marls in which occur concretionary masses of dense blue fossiliferous 
limestone. These marls constitute much of the surface of Delta 
County, but owing to the readiness with which they succumb to the 
weather exposures of unaltered material are rare. The estimated 
thickness of the marls is 350 to 500 feet, but as no wells extend 
through them in this region the data on which to base an estimate are 
very imperfect. Toward the south the black lands representing the 
outcrop of the marls give place to sands the exact relations of which 
are not clear, but which represent apparently the horizon of the 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



WATER-SUPPLY PAPER 276 PLATE 




JL RAILROAD CUT AT LADONIA STATION. 

Exposures of fine, marly sands containing thin ledges of limestone or chalk representing a part of 
undifferentiated Navarro-Taylor marl division. (See p. 26.) 




B. RAILROAD CUT AT AVINGER STATION. 
Exposure of sands and clays of Wilcox ("Sabine") formation. 



Ostrea sp. 

Inoceramus cripsi var. barabini Morton. 

Baculites asper Morton? 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 27 

Nacatoch sand, though some doubt exists owing to the near proximity 
of the Wilcox (''Sabine") formation. 

In the vicinity of Commerce, Hunt County, green sands occur bear- 
ing Crassatellites subplanus (Conrad) ?, Cardium sp., and Fusus sp. 

Above the glauconitic sands are beds of blue bituminous sandy 
shale and dark laminated clays, which are exposed only near Sulphur 
Bluff and 3 miles north of that place on the south side of South Fork, 
where a bluff 50 feet high is composed of black laminated clay with 
thin laminations of ferruginous sand grading downward into blue 
bituminous sandy shale. The blue sandy shales contain character- 
istic Cretaceous fossils which are best preserved in a hard, chalky 
ledge near the middle. The dark laminated clays and associated 
beds are thought to represent the horizon of the Arkadelphia clay, 
the larger part of which in this region is covered by the overlap of the 
Eocene. 

Fossils. — Arenaceous and chalky beds 2 miles north of Enloe 
yielded the following fossils, as determined by Dr. T. W. Stanton, of 
the Survey: 

Exogyra ponderosa Roemer. 

Cuculla3a sp. 

Cinulia sp. 

Mosasaurus, weathered centrum of a 
caudal vertebra and a fragmentary ele- 
ment of the skull. 

From the chalk 1J miles south of Ladonia in the southern part of 
Fannin County the following were obtained: 

Gryphaea vesicularis Lamarck. Cucullsea sp. 

Gyrodes sp. Anchura? sp. 

Avellana sp. Nautilus sp. 
Baculites anceps Lamarck. 

In a railway cut near Cooper the overlying marls yielded the fol- 
lowing in considerable numbers : 

Exogyra costata Say. 

Inoceramus cripsi var. barabini Morton. 

Trigonia. 

In the greensands 1J miles west of Commerce the following were 
obtained : 

Crassatellites subplanus (Conrad)?. I Fusus sp. 

Cardium sp. 

The following were obtained in the blue sandy shale at Sulphur 
Bluff, 3 miles north of the town of that name in Hopkins County: 

Inoceramus proximus Tuomey. Cucullsea tippana Conrad. 

Crassatellites subplanus (Conrad)?. Turritella trilira Conrad. 

Lunatia sp. 



Morea sp. 

Gryphaea vesicularis Lamarck. 



28 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Clays occurring one-half mile north of the town of Sulphur BlufT 
gave the following : 



Ostrea sp. 

Veniella conradi Morton. 



Exogyra costata Say. 
Anchura? sp. 



All the above are considered by Dr. Stanton as belonging to the 
Navarro and Taylor formations, but there are no distinctive species 
that fix the exact horizon. In fact, as pointed out by Dr. Stanton, 
the paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous in northern Texas has not 
as yet received sufficient study to make fine discriminations practica- 
ble with only the small collections submitted. 

TERTIARY SYSTEM. 

EOCENE SERIES. 

MAJOR DIVISIONS OF THE EOCENE. 

The Eocene underlies all the area south of Sulphur Fork, as well as 
a small isolated area on the north side of that stream extending west 
from Texarkana south of New Boston nearly to the west boundary 
of Bowie County. In the eastern part of the area along Sulphur 
Fork the Eocene is covered by a wide belt of deposits of later age. 

As developed in eastern Texas and the adjoining portions of 
Louisiana, the Eocene comprises the following subdivisions: 

4. Jackson formation. Calcareous clays containing marine fossils 
in abundance. 

3. Claiborne group. Lower portion: Fossiliferous, calcareous clay, 
argillaceous limestone, greensand, limonitic iron ore, etc., upper 
portion lignitiferous sands and clays. 

2. Wilcox (" Sabine") formation. Lignitiferous sands and clays, 
with marine fossils in the seaward or southern portions. 

1. Midway formation. Dark-colored calcareous clays and fossil- 
iferous limestones. 

MIDWAY FORMATION. 

The Midway formation, called the " Basal" or " Wills Point clays" 
in the Texas reports, 1 consists of calcareous clays with more or less 
sand and closely resembles the underlying Cretaceous clays and 
marls. The chief differences noted are the more distinctly stratified 
structure of the Eocene beds with laminations of sand and the pres- 
ence of concretionary masses of limestone, which toward the east in 
Arkansas appear to become regularly bedded limestones. Large 
quantities of gypsum are also found in the clays, but the lignitic 
material so prevalent in the overlying Wilcox is wanting. The sur- 
face exposure of the Midway is limited to the extreme western por- 

1 Penrose, R. A. F., jr., First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas. Kennedy, William, Third Ann. Rept. 
Geol. Survey Texas, 1891, p. 47. 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 29 

tion of the Eocene area and is marked by a belt of clay prairie lands 
extending with interruptions from Wills Point northward to Cumby 
and thence curving eastward past Ridgeway to South Fork. 
The characteristic fossils of the formation are : 

Enclimatoceras ulrichi White. 
Ostrea crenulimar^inata Gabb. 
Ostrea pulaskansas Harris. 
Volutilithes limopsis Conrad. 

In common with other beds of the Eocene it contains : 

Venericardia planicosta. 
Pseudoliva vetusta. 
Calyptraphorus velatus. 
Turritella mortoni. 1 

The thickness* of the Midway formation at Texarkana is about 214 
feet and in Texas is from 260 to 300 feet. 2 The beds lie in a hori- 
zontal position, dipping slightly toward the southeast. These clays 
underlie a belt of prairie land with scattered belts and groves of 
hardwood timber, consisting mostly of post oak, black jack, and 
hickory. 

WILCOX ("sabine") formation 

The Midway formation grades upward into a series of siliceous 
and glauconitic sands, variously colored from white through yellow, 
red, and brown to black, interstratified with clays, which are gener- 
ally dark blue or black. The sands that constitute the major part 
of the formation are laminated, thinly stratified, massive, and cross- 
bedded and are frequently interlaminated with clay. Many beds of 
lignite occur, varying in thickness from a few inches to several feet, 
and the sands and clays generally are impregnated with vegetal 
matter to such an extent that they burn white or buff on being 
exposed to heat. The sands contain more or less carbonate of lime, 
in places in sufficient amount to cement the sands into a calacareous 
sandstone or arenaceous limestone. Some of these indurated por- 
tions occur in somewhat even beds and some of them in concretionary 
masses of various sizes and shapes. When met in wells, these indu- 
rated masses are usually designated "rock" or " bowlders" by the 
driller. 

According to previously published reports the Wilcox formation 
has an aggregate thickness of about 900 feet. In the well at Sulphur 
Springs (p. 61) the drill penetrated 1,317 feet of sand and clay that 
apparently represent the Wilcox and Midway formations, combined. 
Of this thickness 810 feet is assigned to the Wilcox. 

i For a detailed discussion of the paleontology of the Midway formation see Harris, G. D., The Midway 
stage: Bull. Am. Paleontology, vol. 1, 1896, pp. 117-270. 

2 Penrose places the thickness at 250 to 300 feet (First Ann. Kept. Geol. Survey Texas, p. 23); and 
Kennedy (Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1892, p. 49) assigns them a thickness of 260 feet. In the 
Sulphur Springs well (p. 61) 324 feet of clays and sands have been referred to this formation. 



30 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS, 

CLAIBORNE GROUP. 

The Claiborne group overlies the Wilcox and is said to contain 
"the most persistent and widely spread marine beds of the Coastal 
Plain/' (See Veatch's map, fig. 2.) In northeastern Texas and 
northern Louisiana the group is divisible into a lower fossiliferous 
formation which has been called "Lower Claiborne," but for which 
Harris * has recently introduced the name St. Maurice formation, 
and an upper lignitiferous formation to which the name Cockfield 
has been given. 

The upper portion' of the Claiborne group consists of lignitiferous 
sands and clays, in which no marine fossils have been found except 
at the very top at Robertson Ferry, on Sabine River, and is known 
as the Cockfield formation. The bed exposed at Robertson Ferry 
containing marine fossils is included in the Cockfield formation. 

The lower portion of the Claiborne is more calcareous, glauconitic, 
and clayey than the Wilcox and contains no lignitic matter. The 
thickness of the lower formation (St. Maurice) varies from 250 to 
700 feet. The upper formation (Cockfield) consists of 400 to 500 
feet of lignitiferous sands and clays, which are evidently of near- 
shore origin. 

In southern Texas the "Lower Claiborne" was included by Ken- 
nedy in his "Marine beds" 2 and was subdivided into a lower division 
called Mount Selman and an upper division called Cook Mountain. 3 
The "Marine beds" of Kennedy, however, included also a portion jT 
of the Wilcox which contains marine fossils. 4 *> 

In southern Cass County and westward the Wilcox formation 
merges upward in places into brown and blue sands and clays, and 
glauconitic beds containing deposits of iron ore which may belong 
to the Claiborne. 

Beds of this character occur in isolated areas and if of Claiborne 
age evidently represent outliers left in the general process of erosion. 
The fossils reported from these localities are not stratigraphically 
distinctive and the correlation with the Mount Selman formation 
is made chiefly on the presence of the iron ore and the general litho- 
logical character. 

In the lower beds the iron exists in the form of carbonate of iron 
or clay ironstone, as scattered masses and nodules inclosed in the 
sand, in places coalescing into a bed continuous for several hundred 
yards. These layers are usually only a few inches in thickness and 
rusty from oxidation. In the southern part of Morris County, and 

i Science, April 1, 1910, p. 502. 

2 Kennedy, William, Third Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1891, p. 52. 

s Hayes, C W., and Kennedy, William, Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 212, 1903 

4 Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, p. 36. 



GEOLOGIC HISTORY. 31 

hi the southwestern part of Cass County, and extending thence 
west into Morris, Camp, Upshur, and the counties lying to the west, 
occur deposits of brown iron ore, lying horizontally near the tops of 
the hills, in some places at the surface and in others overlain by 1 
foot to 30 feet of sand. The ore occurs in a variety of forms, botryo- 
idal, stalactitic, mammillary masses, etc., but its characteristic 
form is that of loose nodules and geodes in a ferruginous sandy 
matrix or consolidated into irregular beds varying in thickness from 
1 foot to 10 feet. The ores were termed "nodular or geode ores" 
by Penrose x who considers them to have been formed by the alteration 
of clay ironstone. 

LATER TERTIARY DEPOSITS. 

No marine deposits of Tertiary age later than Claiborne have 
been recognized in this part of northeastern Texas. Until near the 
close of the period the region appears to have been above sea level, 
or if temporarily depressed and subjected to sedimentation the 
deposits were subsequently removed by erosion. During Oligocene, 
Miocene, and early Pliocene times a general uplift caused the seacoast 
to recede toward the south to near the present coast. As a result of 
this elevation the region was subjected to more or less profound ero- 
sion and reduced to a level estimated by Veatch 2 to have been 500 to 
700 feet above the present sea level. 

In late Pliocene time there was, deposited over the worn land surface 
*a sheet of silts, sands, and gravels to which the name Lafayette was 
given by Ililgard. 3 In thb part of northeastern Texas these deposits 
appear to have been removed by subsequent erosion. Redeposited 
remnants, however, occur as high-level terraces along the valleys and 
also as a thin gravel veneer over the rolling uplands. 

QUATERNARY SYSTEM. 
PLEISTOCENE SERIES. 

PORT HUDSON FORMATION. 

During the long interval of erosion which succeeded the deposition 
of the Lafayette formation the gravels derived from that formation 
were concentrated in many places by stream action. Then came a 
slow subsidence, which converted the bottom lands into swamps and 
caused the deposition of the Port Hudson formation of sand, silts, and 
clays containing remains of animals and plants characteristic of 

5 Penrose, R. A. F., jr., First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1890, pp. 76-81. 

^ Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper IT. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, p. 44. 

s Hilgard, E. W., Am. Geologist, vol. 8, 1891, p. 130. See also McGee, W J, Twelfth Ann. Rept. U. S. 
Geol. Survey, pt, 1, 1891, pp. 347-521. Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 
44-46, 



32 GEOLOGY AND GEOUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

swamp conditions. In these old valley deposits the streams cut 
newer valleys of moderate extent, remnants of the Port Hudson now 
occurring as flat-topped terraces along the principal streams, at no 
great depth below the present flood plains. The distribution of 
these terrace deposits in northeastern Texas is shown approximately 
on Plate I (p. 16). In western Bowie and eastern Red River coun- 
ties, as will be seen, the terraces belonging to the Red River and Sul- 
phur Fork valleys, respectively, coalesce over the intervening areas. 
Moreover, over most of the area north of Sulphur Fork a mantle of 
gravel occurs with some patches of gravel which are possibly due to 
the augmentation of the rivers by glacial flood waters. 

Along Red River, in Bowie and Red River counties, the height of 
the outer terrace is about 70 to 75 feet above the present flood plain; 
while about 35 or 40 feet below this another well-marked terrace was 
noted in places. 

RECENT. 

EROSION. 

A slight elevation following the Port Hudson period of deposition 
caused a renewal of stream activity with the excavation of the present 
valleys and the formation of the present topography. The amount 
of erosion accomplished in this later period, however, is small as com- 
pared with that which was effected in late Tertiary and early Quater- 
nary times. The chief changes consisted in the alluviation of river 
bottoms, the destruction of river banks, and the formation of cut-offs 
by the wandering of the rivers. In northeastern Texas the topo- 
graphic and geologic changes have been slight. 

NATURAL MOUNDS. 

Scattered over the sandy areas in this ana adjoining regions are 
innumerable small mounds varying from 20 to 100 feet in diameter 
and from 2 to 5 feet in height. They are especially well developed 
over the Port Hudson terrace plains, but occur also to some extent 
over the hill lands. In the Cretaceous area, outside the limits of the 
Port Hudson deposits, they are confined to the sandy belts repre- 
senting the outcropping of the Blossom and Woodbine sands. In 
general, these mounds are rudely circular in outline, but in some locali- 
ties they show a well-marked tendency toward a northeast-southwest 
elongation. 

Mounds of similar character have a wide distribution and their 
origin has been a subject of much discussion. The problem is a per- 
plexing one and remains as yet without satisfactory solution. Veatch, 
in a very complete review, groups the possible agencies of formation as 
human, animal, water erosion, eruptions, and wind. 1 Of the theories 

i Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 55-59. 



STRUCTURE. 33 

included under these heads he concludes that those relating to the 
dune and the ant hill are the best supported. In a later paper, Camp- 
bell l summarizes the various hypotheses as (1) human; (2) animal, 
such as ground squirrels, gophers, and prairie dogs' burrows; (3) ant 
hills; (4) water erosion ; (5) chemical solution; (6) wind action; (7) phys- 
ical or chemical segregation; (8) glacial action; (9) uprooted trees; 
(10) spring and gas vents; and (11) fish nests. In his discussion he 
disposes of all of these hypotheses except that which ascribes the 
origin to burrowing animals, and adds, "but whether the mounds are 
due to ants or to small rodents the writer is unable to say." He 
admits that many mounds may have been produced by wind action, 
and that probably many others of an entirely different origin may 
have been modified by the wind, but maintains that "the great num- 
ber of natural mounds are far too symmetrical in profile and in plan 
to have been formed by wind-blown material. " 

In view of the wide distribution of natural mounds and their occur- 
rence in regions widely separated, some doubt may reasonably be 
entertained as to all having been formed by the same agency. The 
writer's observations in northeastern Texas has led him to favor the 
theory which ascribes the mounds in this region to wind action. The 
fact that they are not uniformly circular but are at times elongated, 
and that the position of the longer axis is parallel with the direction 
of the prevailing winds, seems to offer some support to this theory. 
However, the time at the disposal of the writer did not allow full 
opportunity to determine satisfactorily the extent to which the 
linear arrangement prevails and further observations are needed to 

settle the matter. 

STRUCTURE. 

The warping of the old Jurassic land surface, which preceded and 
accompanied the deposition of later formations, gave the beds a 
gentle slope toward the Gulf, amounting, in Lamar County, to about 
55 feet per mile. 2 This dip was estimated by taking the elevation 
by barometer of the base of the Goodland limestone north of Hugo, 
Okla. (475 feet above tide), and comparing it with the elevation as 
shown in the Paris well, 1,125 feet. The distance is about 29.1 miles, 
in which the rocks are carried down 1,600 feet, or about 55 feet per 
mile. 

As to the attitude of the beds south of Sulphur Fork, no definite 
data are obtainable. If, however, this region has been affected by 

1 Campbell, M. R., Jour. Geology, vol. 14, 1906, pp. 708-717. Contains a fairly complete list of papers 
relating to the subject. 

2 Using the observed dips of the Goodland limestone, Taff estimated the dip at about 50 feet per mile, and 
predicted that the water-bearing Trinity sand would be found at Paris at a depth of 1,500 feet. In the 
well subsequently drilled there, however, these sands were reached at a depth of 1,635 feet, to which 91 feet 
must be added for the difference in elevation between the bench mark on the post-office building (601 feet) 
and the top of the well. 

87985°— wsp 276—11 3 



34 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

the Red River- Alabama Landing fault, as indicated by Hill x and 
Veatch, 2 the strata south of Sulphur Fork must lie nearly horizontal. 

If, as suggested by Veatch, the Red River fault and the Alabama 
Landing fault constitute parts of the same general displacement, 
the fault line would occupy approximately the position of the Sul- 
phur Fork, including North Fork. Owing to the covering of alluvial 
deposits, however, no traces of the existence of this fault can be 
observed except a disturbed condition of the Austin chalk beds 
noted by Hill 3 in the cut north of Pecan Gap station. 

According to Hill and Veatch the displacement of this fault is 
about 600 feet, with the downthrow to the north. It is scarcely 
conceivable that a displacement of 600 feet could escape recognition 
in the vicinity of North Fork, as it would be sufficient to bring the 
Austin chalk to the surface in Delta County. The writer was at first 
inclined to think that the chalk near Enloe might be the Austin 
brought up by faulting, but his further study of the stratigraphic 
relations and faunal contents of these beds did not support this con- 
clusion. It seems probable, therefore, that if any displacement has 
occurred here its extent is much less than 600 feet. 

UNDERGROUND WATER. 

SOURCE. 

All underground water is derived from rainfall. A considerable 
part of the rainfall runs off the surface and is carried away by streams; 
a part is removed by evaporation or consumed by living organisms 
and in chemical work; and the remainder sinks into the soil and 
unites with the underground waters, to reappear in part as springs 
at more or less distant points. 

The proportion of the rainfall disposed of by evaporation and 
run-off and by percolation and absorption into the rocks, varies with 
climatic, topographic, geologic, and other conditions. The portion 
which sinks into the ground furnishes the entire supply for both deep 
and shallow wells, and it is this alone that need be considered so far 
as underground waters are concerned. 

The percentage of the rainfall which sinks into the earth is deter- 
mined by (1) the character of the rains, whether slow and steady or of 
a torrential nature; (2) the topography of the country, whether flat 
or with many steep slopes; (3) the character and amount of vegeta- 
tion covering the surface; and (4) the porosity of the soil and the 
physical character and state of saturation of the underlying beds. 4 
The surface of the zone of saturation varies with climatic conditions, 

i Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, p. 384. 
2 Veatch, A. O, op. cit., pp. 68-69. 
s Hill, R. T.,op. cit., p. 342. 
4 Veatch, A. C. ; op. cit., p. 70. 



UNDERGROUND WATER. 35 

rising in periods of long continued rains and sinking during periods 
of drouth. In regions of excessive rainfall and limited evaporation 
its upper limit usually coincides with the surface, whereas in arid 
regions it may be several hundred feet below the surface. Moreover, 
the upper line or limit of saturation — the water table — conforms in a 
general way to the surface, rising somewhat higher under elevations 
than under depressions. 

AVAILABILITY OF UNDERGROUND WATER. 

The availability of the water that sinks into the soil depends on 
(1) the adequacy of the supply and the quality of the water con- 
tained in the rock formations, and (2) the depth at which it may be 
encountered and the height to which it will rise in wells. The per- 
manency of the supply depends on the capacity of the rocks for absorb- 
ing and transmitting water, and the quality of the soluble minerals 
contained in the beds through which it passes. The feasibility of 
obtaining water at any locality depends on the position and eleva- 
tion of the rock strata and the structural relations which control the 
arrangement of the rock masses. It is evident, therefore, that the 
controlling factors in the utilization of underground water are the 
composition of the rocks and their arrangement in sheets and 
masses, or, in other words, the geologic structure. 

CAPACITY OF ROCKS FOR IMBIBING WATER. 

The capacity of rocks to imbibe moisture varies with their physical 
structure. Most of the water in rocks occurs in pores and interstices, 
the larger part of the world's well-water supply being derived from 
saturated porous beds, only a small part of it being obtained from 
caverns or large cavities. Practically all rocks, however compact 
they may appear to the eye, have interstices and small cavities in 
which water may be stored. The degree of porosity of rocks, how- 
ever, differs greatly in different rocks, being highest in open-textured 
loose sands, sandstones, gravels, and chalks, all of which have great 
capacity for imbibing water, and lowest in close-textured cla} r s, 
slates, marbles, and granites, which have very small capacity for 
absorbing and transmitting water. Some rocks, however, such as 
granite, which in their original condition are almost impervious, 
become water bearing through the development of fractures and 
crevices. 

The capacity of rocks for transmitting water is different from their 
capacity for imbibition. In certain fine-grained rocks the pore 
spaces are so small that they will not readily transmit water. Hence 
rocks like chalk or brick, which absorb water freely, transmit it 
slowly, whereas others with no greater total pore space transmit it 
readily. Sandstones, for instance, vary greatly in texture and 
consequently in their capacity for carrying water. 



36 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 
ARTESIAN WATERS DEFINED. 

Underground waters which under the influence of hydrostatic 
pressure tend to rise to the level of the water surface at the highest 
point from which the pressure is transmitted are known as artesian 
waters. Hence an artesian well is any well in which the water rises 
under artesian pressure. If the water rises to the surface the well 
is known as a flowing artesian well; if the water fails to rise to the 
surface it is known as a nonflowing artesian well. An artesian sys- 
tem is any combination of geologic structural features — such as 
basins, planes, joints, or faults — in which waters are confined under 
artesian pressure and will rise if an outlet is afforded by a well or 
other perforation. An artesian basin is a basin of porous-bedded 
rock in which, as a result of synclinal structure, the water is confined 
under artesian pressure. An artesian slope is a monoclinal slope 
of bedded rocks in which water is confined beneath relatively imper- 
vious covers owing to the obstruction to its downward passage by 
the pinching out of porous beds, by a change in character from per- 
vious to impervious, by internal friction, or by dikes or other obstruc- 
tions. An artesian area is an area underlain by water under artesian 
pressure. 

CONDITIONS THAT DETERMINE ARTESIAN WELLS. 

The distribution of underground water depends on the arrange- 
ment of the rocks in sheets and masses. If the strata are horizon- 
tal they constitute storage systems in which the water is under little 
or no artesian pressure and will escape only laterally as seepage 
springs where the beds are cut by valleys of erosion. If the water 
bearing beds are inclined and are included between impervious 
sheets, the water absorbed over the outcropping area will sink under 
the influence of gravity and if reached by a well at any point beyonp 
the limit of its outcrop will tend to rise therein to the level of complete 
saturation. 

The water pressure and, therefore, the height to wnich water will 
rise depend on several conditions : (1) On the elevation of the ground- 
water table at the outcrop or source, which in turn depends on the 
uneven elevation and surface conformation of the catchment area; 
(2) on the loss by friction in transmission, a factor which depends on 
the size of the spaces between the grains and is not by any means 
uniform even in the most even-textured beds; and (3) on the loss 
by leakage resulting from increases in porosity of the inclosing beds 
from faults, joints, and other natural breaks, and, locally, from the 
multiplication of wells within a restricted area. Hence the level to 
which water will rise in wells is always somewhat lower than the 
lowest point of the outcrop of the containing beds and becomes 
lower and lower with increasing: distance from the catchment area. 



tTNDEEGROUNt) WA*ES. 



'61 



The factors controlling the occurrence of flowing wells may be 
briefly stated as follows: (1) There should be relatively porous beds 
suitably situated to collect and transmit the water; (2) the water- 
bearing beds should be inclosed between other relatively impervious 
layers to confine the water; and (3) the level of the ground-water 
table at the source should be enough higher than the surface at the 
point where the well is located to compensate for the loss of head 
due to resistance and leakage. As these conditions vary from point 
to point it is evident that both flowing and nonflowing artesian weUs 



-B 




Figuke 3. — Diagram showing the common arrangement of factors producing artesian wells. A, artesian 
wells; B, head of water if there were no loss by resistance or leakage; C, actual head of hydraulic 
gradient; D, ground-water table at outcrop. 

may occur within the same artesian area. The accompanying dia- 
gram (fig. 3) illustrates the most common .arrangement of factors 
producing artesian wells. 

ARTESIAN WATERS IN NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

GENERAL GEOLOGIC RELATIONS OF THE WATER-BEARING BEDS. 

Within the area here considered the known wafer horizons occur 
in the Cretaceous and Tertiary and may be represented as follows : 

Water-bearing formations in northeastern Texas. 



System. 


Formation. 


Character. 


Tertiary (Eocene). 


Wilcox ("Sabine") forma- 
tion. 


Sands and clays. Certain beds water bearing. No 
correlation possible. 




Midway formation. 


Mostly clays, some thin beds of limestone in places. 
No water. Some sandy beds slightly water bearing. 




Navarro formation and 
Taylor marl. 


Clay marls, not water bearing. Glauconitic sands. 
An important water horizon in Arkansas; of 
doubtful utility in Texas. 




Clay and chalk marls in places sandy. Near the base 
a bed of sand appears to be water bearing, but it 
has not been developed. 


Upper Cretaceous 
(Gulf series). 


Austin group. 


Chalk (Annona) and chalk marl (Brownstown). 
Not available as a source of water. Contains hard 
water where porous. 




Eagle Ford clay. 


Blossom sand member. Water bearing. 
Clays. No water, or limited supplies of highly min- 
eralized water. 




Woodbine sand. 


Sands and shales. The sands are usually water 
bearing. Several water horizons. 



38 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Water-bearing formations in northeastern Texas — Continued. 



System. 


Formation. 


Character. 




Washita group. 


Impure limestones and usually nonwater-bearing 
marls; 35 feet of sand a with water occurring in 
the Paris well. 


Lower Cretaceous 
(Comanche series). 


Fredericksburg group (Good- 
land limestone). 


Massive white limestone. No water. 




Trinity sand. 


Sands and clays with thin beds of limestone. Im- 
portant water horizon in Texas; becomes of less 
importance eastward. 



a According to Mr. J. A. Porter (p. 46), the seventh water horizon occurred under a limestone "cap- 
rock" at 1,635 feet. The sandstone is evidently the one mentioned by Hill (p. 46) as occurring at 1,650- 
1,685 feet, but Hill does not state that it is water bearing. The discrepancy as to the lower portion of the 
Paris record is not easily reconcilable, there being no reliable data available for that part of the hole. 

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM. 



TRINITY SAND. 



The Trinity sand is an important water-bearing horizon, supplying 
a large number of wells in central Texas, where it is divisible into 
several formations, known as the Trinity group. In the main the 
beds consist of fine, clean, white sand pressed compactly together 
and popularly known as "packsand." The group includes some 
calcareous beds, which increase in thickness toward the southern 
part of the State, and are there known as the Glen Rose limestone. 

The outcrop of the Trinity sand occurs in Oklahoma several miles 
north of Red River. This catchment area constitutes a belt from 5 
to 10 miles in width, extending nearly due east into Arkansas. From 
this line of exposure the southward dip of the beds carries' them 
beneath all this part of northeastern Texas to depths proportionate 
to the distance from the outcrop. The only available record of the 
depth to the Trinity sand in northeastern Texas is that of the well at 
Paris (p. 45), where it was reached at about 1,735 feet. From this 
record and from the depth of the sands as shown by a well at Hugo 
the dip of the formations is estimated at about 56 feet per mile. 

Sands being near-shore formations they gradually give place sea- 
ward to contemporaneous clays and limestones formed in deeper and 
quieter waters. This change consists both in an increase in the 
argillaceous and calcareous constituents of the rocks and in a wedging 
out of the sands. This imbrication of the strata is shown in the 
ideal diagrammatic section of the Cretaceous rocks in northern Texas 
and southwestern Arkansas given by TafT 1 (fig. 4, p. 39). 

Water falling upon the outcrop of the Trinity sand or carried over 
it by rivers sinks into it readily, and for a certain distance from the 
outcrop these sands furnish an abundant supply of water of excellent 
quality. Farther away, however, the water becomes affected by 

i Taff, J. A., Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 3, 1902, p. 697. 



UNDERGROUND WATER. 



39 



mineral constituents taken up in its 
underground passage, and is likely to be 
too highly mineralized for ordinary use. 
The conditions which control the 
height to which water will rise in wells 
has been explained (p. 37). Within the 
main zone of saturation water pressures 
in a formation are likely to be unequal, 
owing to differences in the coarseness of 
the strata, leakage through springs, and 
local irregularities in the additions sup- 
plied by rainfall. Hence there is a 
gradual decline in the pressure head 
with increase of distance from the line 
of outcrop. In the absence of accurate 
relief maps of northeastern Texas any 
statement of the areas in which flowing 
wells may be expected from any par- 
ticular horizon can be approximate only. 
At its outcrop north of Hugo the Trinity 
sand stands about 500 feet above sea 
level. The elevation of the top of the 
well at Paris is 510 feet. Water from 
the Trinity would therefore lack 10 feet 
of rising to the top even if it sustained 
no loss of pressure. The amount of such 
loss is unknown, but assuming it to be 
30 or 40 feet the water from the Trinity 
sand would lack 40 or 50 feet of reaching 
the surface at Paris. The area in which 
flowing wells may be expected from the 
Trinity sand in the vicinity of Paris or at 
points equally distant from the outcrop 
must therefore have an altitude of less 
than 450 or 460 feet above sea level, hence 
these wells would be confined to the 
vallev of Red River. 



WASHITA GROUP. 



The Washita group has not hitherto 
been recognized as including water- 
bearing beds. Its mention here is based 
on the somewhat doubtful assignment to 
it of the seventh water horizon in the 



w o 



?r p" 



tn O 01 Jj Oi (0 
O O O ° ft 

O O O ° ° 



I Hugo 547 



ifij filed River 
OKLAHOMA 
" TEXAS "" 
Arthxir 426 



1) 

Paris 601 



Atlas 






Cooper 495 

I SouthFork 
SvlphurRwer 



Sulphur Sprs 
503 



South Line 
Hoplcios Co' 



40 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Paris well (p. 45) . Even if the seventh horizon belongs to the Washita, 
some doubt exists as to whether the water came from that level (sand- 
stone No. 24 of the section) or from some lower horizon. Hill in 
his section (p. 46) gives a sandstone at 1,650 to 1,685 feet, but does 
not credit it with having water. Mr. Porter's log shows the seventh 
water horizon at 1,635 feet just below a limestone, a depth very close 
to that of the bed (24) shown in Hill's section. 

A point in favor of assigning the bed to the Washita group is the 
statement of Mr. Porter that the water from it rose to within 2 feet 
of the surface. The evidence available does not support the view 
that water from the Trinity would rise so high. The Washita, on the 
other hand, outcrops in the vicinity of Hugo at a higher level than 
the Trinity and can reasonably be expected to furnish flowing wells 
at a level of 500 to 510 feet in Lamar County. In general the Washita 
group consists of shales and limestones, but it contains some arena- 
ceous beds in the upper part (Denison formation; the Pawpaw beds 
of Hill), and these may contain water in some places. 

Flowing wells may be expected from the Washita group, if water 
bearing, along the south side of Red River in Lamar County at alti- 
tudes of 500 feet and under. Toward the east the pressure evidently 
declines because of the gradual lowering of the surface of the outcrop- 
ping beds in the territory. The area in which flowing wells may be 
had from this horizon is probably confined to Lamar County and the 
extreme northern part of Red River County. 

WOODBINE SAND. 

The Woodbine formation consists of alternations of sands, sand- 
stones, clays, and marls, commonly lignitiferous and glauconitic and 
containing iron pyrite. The character of the waters also indicates 
that some of the beds contain more or less iron and salt. The lower 
portion of the formation, called by Taff and Hill the Dexter sand, 
has layers of considerable thickness, which are free from mineral 
matter and rather porous. The water from this horizon (sixth) in 
the Paris well (p. 45) rose to within 6 feet of the surface. Its char- 
acter was not adequately tested, however, as it was allowed to mingle 
with the more mineralized waters from the higher beds. The upper 
portion of the Woodbine includes several beds of sand which are 
water bearing, but they contain quantities of vegetable and animal 
remains which, together with soluble salts, so impregnate the water 
as to render it useless. 

North of Paris Red River flows upon the outcrop of the Woodbine 
formation, the sands appearing on both sides of the river in the bluffs 
bordering the alluvial bottoms. On the south side of the river the 
sands outcrop in a belt several miles wide, extending through the 
northern part of Fannin, Lamar, and Red River counties, except 
where covered by Recent alluvial formations. 



UNDERGROUND WATER. 41 



EAGLE FORD CLAY. 



Lower clays. — The lower portion of the Eagle Ford consists of blue 
marly clays containing hard concretions, with occasional layers of 
sandy shale. The sandy constituents increase downward and the 
formation gradually passes into the Woodbine sand below. This 
part of the formation is for the most part dry, but in places it contains 
small quantities of water, which, however, is too highly charged with 
deleterious substances to be used. 

Blossom sand member. — The upper 50 to 80 feet of the Eagle Ford 
clay consists of glauconitic sands irregularly interlaminated with 
clays. On exposure the sands become red from the oxidation of the 
contained iron. These sands outcrop in a narrow band from 1 mile 
to 2 miles wide, extending east and west across Red River, Lamar, 
and Fannin counties and adjoining on the south the Eagle Ford 
black prairies or clay belt. The towns of Blossom, Paris, and Detroit 
are located on the outcrop of these sands, the first named giving the 
name to the beds. The shallow wells along the outcrop commonly 
range from 25 to 75 feet in depth and yield an abundant supply of 
soft water, which in some wells is of good quality, but which in most 
is impregnated with variable amounts of mineral matter. The quality 
of the water from the embedded portion of this sand seems to be 
good, as shown by the Clarksville waterworks wells, which derive 
their supply from it. 

The sands appear to have a thickness of more than 60 feet gen- 
erally, but only a small part of the member is water bearing — a fact 
that must be taken into account in sinking wells to this horizon. 



AUSTIN GROUP. 



The Austin group consists chiefly of chalks (Annona chalk) and 
chalk marls (Brownstown marl) and is in the main destitute of water. 
In places, however, the beds are somewhat porous and may then 
furnish limited supplies of very hard water. 



NAVARRO FORMATION AND TAYLOR MARL. 



The Navarro formation and Taylor marl consist of clay and sandy 
marl, with some sand and chalk. Near the base is a bed of chalk, 
which outcrops near Enloe and southwestward in the vicinity of 
Pecan Gap and Ladonia. Underneath the chalk is a soft yellow sand, 
which outcrops at Ladonia. The thickness of this sand is nowhere 
clearly shown, but probably does not exceed 50 or 60 feet. At Pecan 
Gap 30 feet of sand underlie the chalk, the base of the sand not being 
exposed. Portions of the sand become notably calcareous, with occa- 
sional thin chalky layers. Downward the sands grade into sandy 
yellow clay containing many Exogyra. 



42 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

The outcrop of this sand constitutes a narrow band through the 
northern part of Delta County and south westward in Hunt County 
through Wolf City. Its water-bearing character has not been tested 
underground, but its character and outcrop indicate that it may con- 
stitute a source of supply in a belt a few miles wide along its south 
border. As the catchment area is not extensive it is not likely to 
prove a very important horizon and will probably not be available 
for wells except in a comparatively small area. 

In Arkansas the Nacatoch sand (see p. 25) constitutes an exten- 
sively exploited water horizon. At Texarkana it contains no less than 
eight water-bearing beds, two of which (at 1,020 and 1,174 feet, 
respectively) showed strong pressure. In Texas these beds show a 
diminution in their porous sandy character, and though still water 
bearing to some extent are of less importance in this respect than in 
southern Arkansas. In southern Delta County a narrow belt of glau- 
conitic sandy shales and sands, which apparently represent this forma- 
tion, outcrops along the north side of South Fork and just west of 
Commerce. The outcrops are meager, however, and the character 
and relations of the beds are not clearly shown. In a well 100 feet 
deep at Sulphur Bluff these sands were reached at 30 feet and were 
found to contain water, which, however, was not used. The overlap 
of the Eocene south of Sulphur Fork has covered the higher portions 
of the Cretaceous and nothing can be said of these beds here. 

TERTIARY SYSTEM. 

WILCOX (" SABINE ") FORMATION. 

The Wilcox (" Sabine") formation in this region consists of ferru- 
ginous and lignitiferous sands, ferruginous sandstones, and blue and 
brown clays, with one or more beds of lignite and local beds of iron 
ore. The formation is generally water bearing, but as its character 
changes from place to place no definite correlation can be made 
between the water sands in different localities. Owing to the lenticu- 
lar character of the bedding it is probable that the water sands are 
of local extent only and occur in different positions within the 
formation. 

Underground-water conditions in the Wilcox formation differ mate- 
rially from those in the Cretaceous. In the Cretaceous the sandy 
beds lie between more impervious strata, thus permitting the water 
to enter only at the outcrop. In the Tertiary (Eocene) no such defi- 
nite relationship exists between the clays and sands, there being no 
well-defined persistent clay layers. The whole series being predomi- 
nantly sandy the water is relatively free to penetrate the beds at 
any point. Hence the head in any case is dependent not on the 
height of the ground water table at the outcrop of the horizon tapped, 
but on its height near the well. 1 

i Veatch, A. C, Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 81-82. 



UNDERGROUND WATER. 



43 



From the evidence supplied by the Sulphur Springs well (see p. 61) 
it would appear that below a depth of 50 feet in that vicinity the 
beds of the Wilcox are largely barren. At Mount Vernon, however, 
20 to 25 miles farther east and al'out 25 feet lower, an abundant 
supply of water is found at about 400 feet. At Mount Pleasant no 
water was found below the surface sands to a depth of 300 feet, but 
at Pittsburg, 12 miles south, 33 feet of water sand occurs at 151 to 
184 feet. At Daingerfield, 15 miles east of Pittsburg and at about 
the same level (400 feet above tide), the gin well is apparently supplied 
from the same bed at a depth of 186 feet, the water rising to within 
20 feet of the surface. This sand probably has its outcrop some- 
where between Mount Pleasant and Pittsburg. At Jefferson a well 
whose top is 196 feet above tide obtains water at a depth of 830 feet. 1 



I- ^Height of vsate?--^^ \>^ ee ^ WG " S 
V.7/7 deep yve/As . ' - 




Figure 5.— Diagram showing water conditions in the lower Eocene strata in northwestern Louisiana 
and southern Arkansas. The beds are predominantly sandy, with irregular discontinuous clay masses; 
water is relatively free to pass to any part of the beds, and the hydraulic head depends on the local 
position of the ground-water table rather than on its position at the outcrop of the water-bearing beds. 

At Hawkins, in the valley of the Sabine River, in Wood County, a 
flowing well is reported at a depth of 200 feet. The elevation of the 
town is 394 feet. 

In general the water-bearing character of the Wilcox formation 
beds is controlled by the variation in the porosity of the beds from 
place to place, and hence the successful development of a well depends 
on finding a bed coarse enough to act as a natural horizontal strainer 
and so aid in removing the water in the adj oining finer beds. Although 
the sand beds vary greatly in physical character and thickness within 
short distances, there are, nevertheless, certain beds in which the 
chances of developing a satisfactory well are greater than in others. 
Of these the most important are located toward the top of the forma- 
tion and are represented in the Pittsburg and Daingerfield wells. 



1 The authority for the depth of this well is Mr. J. M. De Ware, of Jefferson. In Hill's report (Twenty- 
first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, p. 414) the depth of this well is given as 802 feet. 



44 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 
SURFICIAL SANDS AND GRAVELS, 

The irregular deposits of sand and gravel of late Tertiary and Quater- 
nary age, which in places overlie the older Tertiary and Cretaceous 
beds, are of varying value as water carriers. Wells in these beds 
situated on the hills are likely to be of some slight local importance. 
In the larger river valleys, however, they may yield large supplies. 

REVIEW BY COUNTIES. 
LAMAR COUNTY. 

Geographic relations. — Lamar County adjoins Red River, in the 
extreme northwestern part of the area included in this report. It 
comprises an area of 903 square miles and in 1910 had a population of 
46,544. Its county seat and chief town is Paris, with a population of 
11,269. The county is traversed by the Texas & Pacific, St. Louis & 
Southwestern, and Texas Midland railways. 

The drainage of the county is divided about equally between Red 
River and North Fork of Sulphur River, the divide between the two 
systems passing east and west across the county near the middle. 
The general slope is toward the southeast. The surface is rolling, 
without .pronounced relief, the drainage ways being but moderately 
incised below the general plain level. 

Geology. — The. south half of the county is underlain by light to 
dark-brown and jet-black clay or clay loam designated Houston clay 
and Houston black clay by the Bureau of Soils; these, constituting 
what is locally known as black waxy land, are residual soils derived 
from the weathering of the clay and chalk marls of the Austin group. 
Northward from Paris the gray sandy clay loam derived from the 
Eagle Ford clay extends to the vicinity of Lenoir, from which point 
north to the river a strip of sandy soil 2 to 10 miles wide represents the 
outcrop of the Woodbine sand. 

Lamar County lies upon the outcrop of the lower half of the upper 
Cretaceous, comprising within its boundaries the Woodbine, Eagle 
Ford, Brownstown, and Annona formations and the Taylor marl, 
which outcrop in successive belts extending east and west across the 
county. North of the Brownstown area is a strip of sandy soil 1 to 
2 miles wide which represents the outcrop of the upper arenaceous 
layers of the Eagle Ford, to which in this report the name Blossom 
sand member is given. The approximate distribution of the outcrops 
of the different formations will be seen on the map (PL I). Within 
the area of the Eagle Ford clay a number of isolated patches or out- 
liers of overlying formations have not been entirely removed by 
erosion. No attempt has been made to map these areas. The strata 
have a dip of 50 to 60 feet per mile toward the south-southeast. 



LAMAR COUNTY. 



45 



Water resources. — Throughout the clay-land area cisterns and 
tanks constitute practically the sole source of water supply in Lamar 
County. Paris derives its supply from a rain reservoir about 6 miles 
west of town. In 1896 the- city made a determined effort to develop 
an underground supply, but without satisfactory results. Shallow 
wells and springs are common in the area of the Woodbine sand, the 
supply for the most part being ample and the quality good. 

Although the Trinity sand underlies the whole county (see fig. 4) 
only in the northern part is it near enough to the surface to be prac- 
tically available. Its catchment area northward in Oklahoma is 
lower than the surface of most of Lamar County, hence flowing wells 
from this horizon can be expected only in the low-lying districts, 
notably along the valley of Red River. 

A well put down by S. J. Wright on the banks of Red River 
opposite the mouth of Kiamichi River is reported to have found an 
abundant flow of water in these beds at a depth of 301 feet, the water 
having sufficient force to rise to a considerable height above the 
surface. Owing to the caving of the well, the drill was lost and the 
well abandoned. 

The Woodbine sand outcrops in the northern part of the county 
and over its area the ground-water table can be reached by wells at 
depths of 20 to 50 feet. Southward from the outcrop the sands lie 
at constantly increasing depths. At Paris the first water sand of 
this formation was found at 600 feet. 

A detailed section of the Paris well has been kindly furnished by 
Mr. John A. Porter, the superintendent. The boring, which was 
made by the city waterworks, is located 2\ miles east of the city 
square. The elevation is 510 feet above tide (91 feet 4 * lower than 
the United States Geological Survey bench mark on the Government 
building, which reads 601 feet). The well was completed December 
19, 1906. 

Record of the Paris well. 



Formation.' 



No. 



Character. 



Thick- 



Depth. 



Eagle 
Ford 
clay. 



Blossom 

sand 
member. 



Sand with thin soil on top 

" Packsand;" first water 

Blue marl 

Blue marl with trace of sand at top 

Marl of lighter color; second water at 570; rose to within 110 feet 
of surface. 

Gray sandrock 

Marl 

Sandrock; third water; rose to within 100 feet of the surface 

Marl 

Gray sandrock; fourth water; rose to 75 feet from surface 

Marl 

Gray sandrock; fifth water; rose to 30 feet from surface 

Marl 

a Identifications by the writer. 



Feet. 
60 
20 



100 
320 
100 



Feet. 



180 
500 

600 



Woodbine sand. 



50 
125 

8 

175 

25 

66 

31 



650 
775 

783 



1,049 
1,080 
1,113 



46 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Record of the Paris well — Continued. 



Formation. 


No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 




14 
15 
16 
17 

18 
19 
20 
21 




Feet. 

52 

6 

105 

39 

f 33 
J 39 
1 25 
{ 8 


Feet. 
1,165 
1,171 
1,276 
1,315 

1 348 




Sandrock and clay 




Sandrock with indications of lime; sand almost white 


Woodbine sand. 


Unrecorded; "was drilled while sand bucket was being drilled 
out." 




Sandrook Sixth water; rose 

LooiTak;:;:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: S^^ eet 

Gravel J of the surface. 


1,387 
1,412 
1,420 


Washita group 
and Trinity 
sand. 


22 

23 

24 


Sand, followed in succession by shell rock (8 to 10 inches) and 

alternating laj T ers of limestone and marl darker below. 
Unrecorded; said to penetrate limestone at the bottom 


130 

85 
360 


1,550 
1.635 


Unrecorded; sand at top; seventh water, which rose to within 2 
feet of the surface. 


1,965 



The above record to a depth of 1,550 feet (Nos. 1 to 22) corresponds 
with that published by Hill. 1 The remaining portion of Hill's record, 
which stops at 1,726 feet, is as follows: 

Record of loiver part of Paris well (by Hill). 



Formation. 



No. 



Character. 



Thick- 
ness. 



Depth. 



Washita group. 



Unrecorded 

Grayish friable sandstone 

Impure argillaceous limestone with fossils 

Impure limestone with Gryphsea washitaensis 

White limestone resembling Goodland limestone 

Hard arenaceous limestone with Pecien and A nomia 



Feet. 

100 

35 

15 

10 



Feet. 
1,650 
1,685 
1,700 
1,710 



Goodland 
stone. 



lime- 



1,725 
1,726 



According to Porter, water was found in sand at 1,635 feet. This is 
evidently the sand noted in Hill's section at 1,650 to 1,685 feet 
(No. 24). Hill makes no mention of water at this horizon. From 
the greater detail given by Hill from 1,550 to 1,726 feet it is proba- 
ble he had before him the drillings from the well. Later the well was 
extended to 1,965 feet, but no record is available for this portion. 
The Trinity must have been reached at about 1,735 feet, but nothing 
is known of its water-bearing character. 

The Paris well is located on the outcrop of the Blossom sand 
member, which constitutes the upper part of the Eagle Ford clay, 
in which five small water reservoirs were encountered within the 
first 100 feet. In the Woodbine," aggregating about 800 feet in thick- 
ness, are six beds of sand, five of which are water bearing. The first 
yielded at 570 feet a strong flow of briny water, which rose to within 
110 feet of the surface; it may represent a water sand within No. 5, 
not otherwise noted. The second (No. 8) also yielded salty water, 



Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, 



LAMAR COUNTY. 



47 



which rose 10 feet higher than that from No. 5. The third at 958 feet 
yielded water that rose to within 75 feet of the surface, and the fourth 
at 1,049 feet water that rose to within 30 feet of the surface. All of 
the waters were briny and unfit for use. In the fifth sand (No. 19) a 
strong flow was reached at 1,350 feet and rose to within 6 feet of the 
surface. The quality of this water is unknown, as the waters from 
above were allowed to mingle with it. This sand is inferred to be the 
basement reservoir of the Woodbine, which is so prolific of wells 
in regions to the southward. The next water, the seventh, accord- 
ing to Porter, came from beneath a bed of limestone at 1,635 feet 
and rose to within 2 feet of the top. The failure to exclude the 
higher waters throws doubt on the character of those from the two 
lowest flows. The height to which the water rises indicates that flow- 
ing wells may be obtained from these horizons in Lamar County 
at localities having elevations under 500 feet. 

In the area of outcrop of the Blossom sand member water is found 
in shallow wells at depths ranging from 15 to 50 feet. The water from 
many of these wells is strongly mineralized, but a notable difference 
is manifested by the waters of wells which are near together. The 
well of the Texas Midland Railway at Paris is located in these sands 
at an altitude of about 566 feet. The following record, which has been 
published by Hill, 1 was supplied by the president of the company, 
E. H.P.Green. 

Well of the Texas Midland Railway, Paris, Lamar County, Tex. 



No. 



Character. 



Thick- 



Depth. 



Residual soil grading into sand and clay r 

Black sand, water bearing, yielding 1,200 gallons per day 

Hard barren pack sand 

Top portion of barren joint clays 



Feet. 


Feet. 


18 


18 


15 


33 


12 


45 


28 


73 



At Blossonij a station on the Texas & Pacific Railway 12 miles 
east of Paris, a number of wells have been sunk to depths of 15 to 40 
feet. W. E. Moore's well, located near the edge of the Black Prairie, 
in the south part of the town, gave the following record: 

Well of W. E. Moore, Blossom, Tex. 



No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 


1 


Top soil and clay 


Ft. in. 

6 
25 

10 
4 
110 


Ft. n. 
6 


?, 


Sand and clay mixed 


31 


3 




31 10 


4 




35 10 


5 




145 10 









Hill, R. T., Twenty-first Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, p. 631. 



48 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

Water, doubtless coming from the sand of No. 2, rose in this well 
to within 30 feet of the surface. The water is not used. 

A well 1*17 feet deep put down near the depot several years ago yields 
a small supply of mineralized water which is regarded locally as hav- 
ing valuable medicinal properties. The only soft-water well in 
town is that of John Carter, on the north side of the village. It is 
about 30 feet deep. (See analyses of water of the Blossom wells, 
p. 74.) 

In the south part of the county the Blossom sand member appar- 
ently underlies all the black-land area and can be reached at gradually 
increasing depths up to 1,400 or 1,500 feet. Wells located on the 
Annona chalk belt will reach the sands at depths of from 300 to 600 
feet. The water-bearing character of these sands underground in 
Lamar County has not been tested and their availability is largely 
a matter of conjecture. At Clarksville, in Red River County, how- 
ever, they yield an ample supply of good water for the use of the 
city and it is quite probable tnat similar supplies may be found in 
them in Lamar County. In the absence of well records no definite 
statement can be made as to the height to which water from the 
Blossom sand member will rise in the county. At Clarksville the 
wells have an elevation of about 450 feet and the water rises to within 
55 feet of the top. At their outcrop 4 miles north of town t e sands 
have an elevation of about 400 feet. Westward there is a rise in 
the surface outcrop with a corresponding rise in the water table to 
about 550 feet at Paris. From this it will appear that flowing 
wells can not be expected from the Blossom sand member in Lamar 
County at elevations greater than 500 to 525 feet. 

DELTA COUNTY. 

Geographic relations. — Delta County borders Lamar County on the 
south and occupies the triangular-shaped area between North and 
South forks of Sulphur River. It has an area of 266 square miles, 
with a population of 14,566; the county seat is.Cooper. The county 
is traversed from northeast to southwest by the Texas Midland Rail- 
road and is intersected for short distances in the northwest and south- 
west corners by the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe and St. Louis & 
Southwestern railroads, respectively. 

The county is an eastward-dipping plain, grading from the rolling 
black prairie on the north and west to an almost flat surface on the 
east. Elevations are: Enloe, 495; Cooper, 495; Klondike, 478; and 
Ben Franklin, 465 feet, above sea level. It is drained entirely by 
North and South forks of Sulphur, the larger part going to the latter 
on account of the general slope. None of the drainage ways are 
conspicuous. 



DELTA COUNTY. 49 

Geology. — The county is situated on the outcrop of the uppermost 
beds of the Upper Cretaceous as represented in Texas, South Fork 
following approximately the boundary between the Cretaceous and the 
overlying Eocene Tertiary. A single small area of Cretaceous in the 
form of an inlier occurs south of South Fork at Sulphur Bluff in north- 
east Hopkins County. Outside a narrow belt bordering South Fork 
the soils of Delta County are of the black waxy type characteristic 
of the black-prairie region of Texas. 

Water resources. — In the black-land areas the water for domestic 
use is derived almost entirely from cisterns and tanks. In the rather 
small sandy areas both wells and cisterns are in use. A boring made 
by Mr. E. H. Bond 3 miles southwest of Cooper to a depth of 263 feet 
was wholly in clay marl. The section is as follows: 





Record of E. IT. Bond's ivell S miles southwest of Cooper, 


Tex. 




No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 


1 
2 


Black soil 


Feet. 
5 

45 
213 


Feet. 

5 
50 


3 




263 









No water was found except a u slow seep" from No. 2. This is the 
source from which the water of the shallow wells is derived, but the 
water is hard and brackish and little used except for stock. 

In the sandy areas in the south part of the county the wells range 
in depth from 10 to 100 feet. The water is reported to be fairly good 
and the supply ample, but cisterns are coming into general use. 
Throughout the county rain reservoirs and tanks are relied upon 
mainly for stock supplies. 

No effort has been made to exploit the underground waters of Delta 
County. A study of the geology shows that although the Trinity 
and Woodbine reservoirs undoubtedly extend beneath the county, 
they are at too great depth to be available even if they were likely to 
furnish a desirable quality of water, which is improbable. The esti- 
mated depth of the Trinity at Cooper is about 3,000. feet. The depth 
to the first water sands of the Woodbine is 1,800 to 2,000 feet and to 
the lowest, the only one concerning whose quality doubt exists, is 
800 to 900 feet deeper. The Blossom sand member can be reached 
at a probable depth of from 1,200 to 1,300 feet. In the absence of 
any test well in the region, however, no safe prediction can be made as 
to its availability as a source of water supply so far from the outcrop. 

The only other apparent source of underground water over the 

larger portion of the county is the sand bed which outcrops along the 

south side of North Fork. This sand evidently extends beneath the 

larger part of the county. From its outcrop it appears to dip south 

87985°— wsp 276—11 1 



50 



GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATEES OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 



by southeast^ and can be reached at increasing depths according to the 
elevation of the surf ace and the distance from the outcrop. At Com- 
merce, Hunt County, it lies at a depth of 600 feet and, as shown by the 
Midland Railway well (see below), is water bearing. At Cooper the sand 
is estimated to lie at a depth of 500 to 600 feet. As the surface is 30 
to 50 feet higher at Cooper than at the outcrop of the sand, flowing 
wells could not be expected, but the water would probably rise to 
within 50 feet of the top of the well. The width of the outcrop or 
catchment area otthe sand is from 1 to 2 miles. 

The upper sands (Nacatoch ?) outcrop in a narrow belt along the 
south side of the county through Klondike and to the north of Com- 
merce just over the line in Hunt County. These sands would be 
available for wells only in a restricted area bordering South Fork. 
At Horton, 4 miles south of Klondike, these sands were reached at 

315 feet: 

Record of well at Horton, Delta County, Tex. 



No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 


1 




Feet. 
30 
GO 
225 

(?) 


Feet. 
30 


9 




90 


3 


Black clay 


315 


4 













At Commerce, Hunt County, which is located at about the same 
geologic horizon, the same sands occur at a depth of 370 to 385 feet, 
according to the somewhat imperfect records available. 

Record of Capt. Ander's well; elevation, 548 feet, approximate. 



No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 


1 


Soil.. 


Feet. 

10 

30 

330 


Feet. 
10 


9 




40 


3 




370 


4 












Record of Texas Midland Railroad well; elevation, 548 feet, approximate. 


No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 


l 


Blue and vellow clav - - 


Feet. 
20 


Feet. 
20 


9 






3 


Blue sandy shale. - 


365 

4 

4 

195 

6 

6 

55 

25 


385 


4 


White water sand 


389 


5 


Hard limestone 


393 


fi 


Blue sandy shale 


588 


7 


Hard sandstone . 


594 


8 




600 


q 




655 


10 




685 









RED RIVER COUNTY. 51 

The depth of this well is given on the authority of Mr. L. W. Wells, 
assistant to the general manager of the Texas Midland Railroad, who 
states that the upper horizon has been cased off. The upper sands 
(Xo. 4) apparently represent the Nacatoch. The lower sands (No. 8) 
apparently represent the sands which outcrop near Ladonia. The 
statement by Hill * that a well 2,390 feet deep had been put down by 
H. G. Johnston at Commerce is an error, as Mr. Johnston writes that 
he has never put down a well at Commerce.. 

RED RIVER COUNTY. 

Geographic relatione. — Red River County adjoins Lamar County on 
the east and, like Lamar, lies between Red River on the north and 
Sulphur River on the south. It has an area of 1,061 square miles and 
a population of 28,564. The county seat is Clarksville. It is trav- 
ersed from east to west by the Texas & Pacific Railway, which follows 
the crest of the divide between Red and Sulphur rivers. 

The general slope to the southeast has the effect of throwing the 
principal part of the drainage into the Sulphur. The surface is rolling 
without marked relief and the drainage ways are for the most part 
inconspicuous. The most important tributaries are Pecan Bayou on 
the north and Cuthand Creek on the south. The plateau level ranges 
from about 530 feet above sea on the west to 390 feet above on the 
east. Detroit has an elevation of 482 feet; Bagwell, 476; Clarks- 
ville, 442; and Annona, 370. 

Geology. — The geologic conditions in the northern and western parts 
of Red River County present essentially the same features as are 
found in Lamar County on the west. The outcrop of the Upper Cre- 
taceous formations constitute a series of belts extending northeast 
two-thirds of the way across the county, where they disappear under 
a covering of Quaternary sands and gravels. In the northern part 
of the county the Woodbine sand appears along the south side of the 
Red River valley, bordered on the south by the clays of the Eagle 
Ford formation. Then comes the Blossom sand member of the Eagle 
Ford in a strip a mile or two wide extending from Blossom eastward 
nearly across the county to where the formation disappears beneath 
the alluvium of the Red River valley about 10 miles north of Annona. 
South of this comes the black-land area representing the outcrop of 
the chalk marls (Brownstown) , chalk (Annona), and clay marls 
(Navarro and Taylor), each constituting a belt 5 to 6 miles in width, 
disappearing under the Quaternary deposits a short distance east of 
Annona. In the southern and eastern parts of the county the 
Cretaceous formations are entirely hidden from view by the early 
Quaternary (Port Hudson) deposits, which cover the higher areas, 

i Twenty-second Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 7, 1901, p. 637. 



52 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

and by the flood-plain deposits which occupy the valleys. Moreover, 
the Quaternary sands and gravels occur in broad, shallow depressions 
eroded in the Cretaceous area. A case in point is that of Cuthand 
Creek, the headwaters of which west of Clarksville are engaged in re- 
moving the filling of sand and gravel, occupying a depression in the 
surface of the chalk and chalk marls. The Annona chalk makes its 
appearance on the east side of this valley 6 or 8 miles southwest of 
Clarksville and extending northeastward constitutes the broad ridge 
on which the town is situated. 

Water resources. — The areas in which shallow wells constitute a 
source of water supply are confined chiefly to the valleys of the main 
streams. Outside the valleys a few shallow wells, sunk in areas cov- 
ered by the Quaternary sands and gravels, in places furnish an abun- 
dance of fairly good water, but not uncommonly are found to be too 
highly charged with deleterious substances to be used. Wells located 
in the northern part of the county on the outcrop of the Woodbine 
sand find water at depths varying from 20 to 40 feet/ In general 
the water is good and the supply ample. The outcrop of the Blossom 
sand member constitutes a third but less important area of shallow 
wells. Water is found at a depth of 10 to 30 feet in this area, but it is 
likely to contain a large amount of mineral substances in solution. 
Wells differ greatly in the character of the water they furnish, those 
located near together often showing wide discrepancy. 

Few surface wells have been dug in the Eagle Ford prairie or black- 
land areas; and such as have been attempted secure but a limited 
supply of water of poor quality in the seepage that finds its way along 
the joints of the clays and chalk. 

The artesian conditions in Red River County are similar to those in 
Lamar County. The southward dip of the Trinity sand carries it too 
far below the surface to be available for wells located anywhere out- 
side of the valley of Red River. It seems possible that flowing wells 
may be obtained in this formation in the lowlands bordering Red 
River, but in the absence of a suitable topographic map no definite 
prediction as to this can be made. 

The Woodbine sand contains plenty of water, which when tapped 
by wells in the area to the south of the outcrop will tend to rise to 
the surface. The uncertainty of finding good water in the upper beds, 
however, makes these horizons of doubtful utility in this county. 
In an effort made some years ago to find artesian water the city 
of Clarksville drilled to the Woodbine sand, finding water at a depth 
of about 1,100 feet. The water, which was too salty for use, is reported 
to have been accompanied by natural gas and to have spouted out 
at the surface when first struck, but quickly subsided to 10 feet below 
the top. The elevation of the top of the well is about 430 feet, which 
indicates that flowing wells may be expected from this horizon in 



BOWIE COUNTY. 53 

locations having an altitude less than 420 feet. In 1902 the Clarks- 
ville Ice Co. put down a well to a depth of 1,800 feet, passing two 
water horizons, both in the Woodbine, one at 1,000 feet and one 
at 1,600 feet. The w^ater from both these horizons was too strongly 
charged with salt for use. It appears that no attention was paid 
in either of these attempts to the horizon from which the present water 
supply of the city is obtained. 

In 1902 the^city of Clarksville 1 completed two wells, finding water 
in sand immediately underlying the chalk and chalk marl on which 
the city is located. This bed, to which the name Blossom sand 
member has been given, was reached at a depth of about 600 feet. 
The water, which rises to within 55 feet of the surface, is soft but 
rather high in alkalies, and the supply is apparently ample. The 
sands from which this supply comes outcrop along Pecan Bayou 
about 4 miles north of town. The elevation of the outcrop is about 
400 feet, as determined by the aneroid, and the top of the well 450 
feet, indicating that the Blossom sand member has a southward 
dip here of about 130 feet per mile. Assuming this rate of dip to 
continue it is evident the member will not be available as a source of 
water supply south of a line drawn east and west 7 or 8 miles south 
of Clarksville. Between this line and the outcrop of the member on 
the north the indications are favorable for good wells in this sand, 
but flowing w T ells can be expected only in those localities whose 
elevations are under 400 feet. 

Indications of oil and gas are reported to have been found in a 
well 100 feet deep on the farm of Mr. Cox, about a mile north of 
Detroit. If correctly reported, these evidently came from sandstone 
lenses in the Eagle Ford clay. 

BOWIE COUNTY. 

Geographic relations. — Bowie constitutes the third and most east- 
erly of the three counties occupying the narrow divide between 
Red River and Sulphur Fork. Its population is 4,827. Its width 
from north to south varies from 25 miles at the west end to 20 at the 
east. The relief is low and the crest of the divide, which is occupied 
by the Texas & Pacific Railway, is located north of the center line 
of the county. The divide slopes gradually eastward, as shown by 
the following list of elevations taken in order from west to east: 
DeKalb, 407; New Boston, 352; State line, 282. 

Geology. — As shown on the map (PL I, p. 16), the larger portion of the 
area included between the flood plains of the two rivers is occupied 
by sands and gravels of Quaternary age. A considerable area in the 
southern and eastern part of the county is of Eocene (Wilcox) age, 
the north boundary of the formation extending through Old Boston 

i For information concerning the Clarksville wells indebtedness is acknowledged to Mayor F. B. Mason. 



54 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATEKS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

and crossing the railroad track in the vicinity of Whaley station. 
New Boston is situated in a plain underlain by clay apparently 
representing the outcrop of the Midway formation (Eocene). 

Three miles north of Malta station, on the Freeze place, is a small 
outcrop of the fossiliferous clay marl belonging to the undifferentiated 
Navarro and Taylor. The exposure occurs on the edge of a river 
terrace and has an area of about 2 square miles. Calcareous clay and 
greensand about 25 feet in thickness are here overlain by a thin 
capping of Quaternary sand and gravel. The locality is noted 
throughout the surrounding region for the Cretaceous shells found in 
the clays. 

Water resources. — Throughout the county water is usually found 
in shallow wells varying in depth from 20 to 60 feet. The quality 
is in general good and the supply ample except in certain elevated 
localities where the water-bearing sands have been dissected by 
erosion. Instances are noted where wells when first drilled sup- 
plied good water, but after a time became highly charged with 
deleterious substances, especially hydrogen sulphide (HS 2 ). This 
is probably due to the entrance of low forms of plant life or to the 
decomposition of iron sulphide in the sand through the accession 
of air. 

In the area covered by the Port Hudson (Pleistocene) deposits 
water is found in packsand or quicksand underlying clay near the 
middle or base of the formation, which does not usually exceed 60 
feet in thickness. In the deeper wells the water is said to occur 
in a black sand immediately below a sandy clay "rock." Most 
wells are from 20 to 30 feet in depth. A few have been extended 
through the Port Hudson into the underlying clays of the Midway 
or the Cretaceous formations, but the results generally have not been 
satisfactory. 

Where erosion has dissected the formation, exposing a bed of 
clay, springs are likely to occur at the top of the clay. Such a case 
is seen at De Kalb, where a fine spring occurs in a ravine about 
one-half mile southwest of the railroad station. The water, which 
is of good quality, flows out at the top of a dark-brown tough sandy 
clay. 

In the Eocene area water is found in shallow wells at varying 
depths, from 20 to 50 feet, according to locality. The soils of this 
area are chiefly red and yellow sands, grading downward into partly 
consolidated sands and sandy shales, portions of which consist of 
hard ferruginous sandstone. The water from this horizon is usually 
more or less strongly mineralized. Dalby Springs, four in number, 
derive their supply from these beds; the water from them varies 
somewhat, but in all is rather strongly mineralized. (See p. 74 for 
analyses.) 



BOWIE COUNTY. 55 

In the eastern part of the county the Wilcox formation is more 
or less obscured by the later deposit of the Port Hudson. In this 
part of the county the water occurs in the surficial sands and gravels 
at depths varying from 15 to 45 feet. The supply of the Texarkana 
Water Co. is obtained from 52 wells located in a branch valley in the 
northeastern part of the city. The supply comes mainly from the 
surficial sands at from 15 to 45 feet below the surface. 

Deep wells. — While several deep wells are known to have been 
put down in this county, only very meager information concerning 
them is at present obtainable. In 1905 a boring was completed a 
mile south of De Kalb to a depth of 1,833 feet in the search for oil 
and gas. The top of the well is about 350 feet above sea level, or 
50 feet lower than the station. The only record obtainable of this 
hole is the following, given from memory by Mr. N. E. McKinney, the 
president of the company: 

Record of well 1 mile south of De Kalb, Tex. 



No. 



Character. 



Thick- 



Depth. 



Sand and sandy clay 

Compact bed of clay with water below 

Unrecorded 

White rock 

Blue clay. (Showing of oil and gas at 1,503). 



Feet. Feet. 

93 93 

7 100 

400 500 

530 1, 030 



Water was encountered which at first overflowed and at the time 
of visit stood a little below the surface. No attention was paid 
to the water horizons nor to the character of the water. It is 
probable the water which rose to the surface came from the Blossom 
sand member, which was evidently penetrated at a depth of about 
1,030 to 1,050 feet. 

In 1898 a well was put down on the public square of New Boston 
to a depth of 1,270 feet, according to Mr. Paul G. Ruff. The drill 
is said to have passed through alternate strata of blue shale and 
sand rock, finding at about 500 feet one flow which rose to within 
40 feet of the surface and another at about 700. feet; both flows 
were strongly salt. Mr. C. A. Berkshire states that the drill passed 
through about 450 feet of blue shale and then sand and sandy shale, 
with a number of beds of hard rock, to a depth of 1,200 feet. The 
water, which occurs in the sandy beds at a depth of about 500 feet, is 
highly mineralized and is not used except to some extent for watering 
stock. It is evidently from the Nacatoch sand. The elevation of 
the top of the well is 350 feet. 

In 1906 a test well for oil and gas was drilled at Redwater to 
a depth of 2,000 feet. The well, which is located 450 yards west 
of the station, was completed April 30, 1906. It was drilled by 



56 



GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OE NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 



J. J. Boynton, who furnishes the record. The elevation of the collar 
is about 286 feet above sea level. 



Well of the Redwater Oil & Mineral Co., Redwater, Tex. 



Formation. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 




1. Soil and clay 


Feet. 
15 
2 
4 
3 
4 
4 
8 
25 
2 
13 
33 
2 

20 
60 
17 
36 


Feet. 
15 




2. Sand and water 


17 




3. Lignite 


21 




4. Sand 


24 




5. Lignitiferous sand 


28 




6. Light colored shale 


32 


Wilcox ("Sabine"). 


7. Black shale 


40 


8. Gumbo 


65 




9. Gray sands 


67 




10. Yellow clay 


80 






83 




1 2. Soft grav sand 


85 




13. Yellow clay 


105 




14. Soft brown shale 


165 






182 




16. Grav sand 


218 










17. Black shale or gumbo 


47 

67 

1 

154. 


265 




18. Blue shale 


332 


Midway 269. 


19. Hard sand 


333 




20. Black shale 


487 










Arkadelphia 565. 


21. Shale and shells; some water in shell bed at 500 


113 

. 40 

240 

1 

79 

40 

80 

28 

4 

5 

35 


500 




22. Blue shale 


540 




23. Black shale 


780 




24. Hard dark-brown sand 


781 




25. Soft black shale 


860 




26. Shale with shells 


900 




27. Black shale 


980 




28. Hard lime 


1,008 


■£ 


29. Gumbo 


1,012 


a 


30. Lime 


1,017 


31. Blue shale 


1,052 


o 






% 


Nacatoch (?) 232. 




21 
67 
10 
20 
11 

2 
97 

4 
10 


1,073 
1,140 


H 


33. Blue shale. . . 


xi 




1, 150 


fl 


35. Blue shale 


1,170 




36. Brown sand 


1,181 


o 




1,183 


& 


38. Blue shale. 


1,280 


n 




1,284 


SH 




1,294 








a 


Marlbrook(?)716. 




24 

12 

. 8 

40 

Q 

34 

70 

5 

16 

494 


1,318 
1,330 


> 


42. Black shale . 


43. Gumbo . 


1,338 


'A 


44. Shale. . 


1,378 






1,381 




46. Shale 


1,415 






1,485 






1,490 






1,506 




50. Black shale 


2,000 









No record was kept of any of the water sands except Nos. 2 and 21. 
No. 2 (15 to 17 feet) is the source of supply for the surface wells of the 
neighborhood. The beds believed to represent the Nacatoch horizon 
(1052 to 1294) are probably water bearing. This well did not reach 
the Austin group, under which lies the water-bearing Blossom sand 
member of the Eagle Ford, but it evidently stopped not far short of it. 

A comparison of this record with that at New Boston indicates that 
the southward dip of the formations in this locality is about 60 feet 
per mile. 



BOWIE COUNTY. 



57 



Several wells put down in Texarkana reach the water-bearing Na- 
catoch sand at a depth of 800 to 850 feet. According to the superin- 
tendent, Mr. K. A. Munson, 1 the well of the waterworks company 
has the following record : 

Record of well of Texarkana, Waterworks Co. 



Formation. 



Quaternary or Lafayette — 

Sabine (Wilcox) 

Midway (?) and Arkadel 
phia. 

Nacatoch 

Marlbrook a 



No. 



Character, 



Dirt, sand, and gravel 

White sand and clay, with water. . 
Dark blue clay, no water 

Sand and sand rock, water bearing 
Blue clay 



Thick- 
ness. 



Feet. 

50 

45 

730 

100 



Depth. 



Feet. 
50 
95 
825 

925 
930 



a Veatch assigns No. 5 to the Marlbrook, but the more complete record of the Oil Prospect well shows it to 
be evidently Nacatocn. 

Analysis 1 shows the water to be highly mineralized. It is used 
only occasionally to supplement the supply from the shallow wells. 

A well put down by the American Well & Prospecting Co. for the 
Home Ice Co. 2 was drilled to a depth of 1,900 feet, with the following 
results : 

Record of well of Home Ice Co . , Texarkana, Tex. 



Formation. 



Lafayette (?) 

Lower Eocene (?) 

Lower Eocene and Arkadel 
phia. 

Nacatoch 

Marlbrook 

Annona 

Brownstown 



No. 



Character. 



Coarse gravel 

Yellow clay 

Blue clay 

Sand containing brackish water which rose within 

15 feet of the surface. 

Hard sandstone 

Sand containing brackish water which rose within 

5 feet of surface. 

Blue clay 

White chalky limestone 

Blue clav 



Thick- 



Depth. 



eet. 


Feet. 


6 


6 


29 


35 


845 


880 


20 


900 


11 


911 


30 


941 


759 


1,700 


125 


1,825 


75 


1,900 



A similar record is shown by a well (No. 480) which was drilled in 
1907 by J. J. Boynton, as an oil prospect, 1 mile northeast of the city, 
and was abandoned at 1,390 feet. 

The Texarkana oil prospect well is located in the creek bottom at 
an elevation about 305 feet. The record was furnished by Mr. J. D. 
Cook. The well is cased with llf-inch pipe to 145 feet, with 9-inch 
pipe to 860 feet, and with 6-inch pipe to 1,360 feet. 



i-Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 180,261. 
2 Idem, pp. 180, 265. 



58 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHE ASTERN TEXAS. 
Record of well of Texarlcana Oil Prospect Co. 



Formation. 


No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 


Remarks. 




1 

2 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 


Soil and clay 


Feet. 

5 
40 
10 
55 

2 
43 

5 
35 


Feet. 
5 
45 
55 
60 
62 
105 
110 
145 










Recent. 






Wilcox, 145 feet. 








Hard bowlders 






























9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 




• 3 

27 

44 

10 

20 

1 

8 

2 

26 

4 

4 

3 

24 

4 

18 

5 

10 

3 

15 

4 

8 

20 

6 

2 

5 

3 

4 

7 

2 

35 

2 


148 
175 
179 
189 
209 
210 
218 
220 
246 
250 
254 
257 
281 
285 
303 
308 
318 
321 
336 
340 
348 
368 
374 
376 
381 
384 
388 
395 
397 
432 
434 




























































Shell rock 


















Rock 










Midway, 289 feet. 


Rock 


















Shale 
























"Rock" . 






Shale 






Soft black shale 












"Rock" 






Shale 






























40 
41 
42 
43 
44 
45 
46 
47 
48 
49 
50 
51 
52 
53 




38 

30 

3 

37 

2 

16 

4 

108 

18 

10 

14 

' 20 

102 

6 


472 
502 
505 
542 
544 
560 
564 
672 
690 
700 
714 
734 
836 
842 








































Arkadelphia, 408 feet. 


Shale 




































"Rock and bowlders " 












54 
55 
56 
57 
58 
59 
60 
61 
62 
63 
64 
65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 
73 
74 
75 
76 
77 
78 
79 




2 

2 

4 
20 

8 
35 

4 
10 
30 
13 

6 
44 
20 
10 

1 
16 

6 
25 

3 
38 

3 
10 

4 
14 

4 
15 


844 

846 

850 

870 

878 

913 

917 

927 

957 

970 

976 

1,020 

1,040 

1,050 

1, 051 

1,067 

1,073 

1,098 

1,101 

1,139 

1,142 

1,152 

1,156 

1,170 

1,174 

1,189 


















"Hard sand" (sandstone) 


9-inch casing to 860 feet. 






















Shale 












"Rock" 






Shale 








Strong flow, came 


Nacatoch, 347 feet. 


Shale - 


almost to top. 




"Rock" 






Shale 






"Rock" 
























"Rock" 


' Water comes within 






25 feet of the top. 
























Strong pressure water. 









BOWIE COUNTY. 59 

Record of well of Texarhana Oil Prospect Co. — Continued. 



Formation. 


No. 


Character. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 


Remarks. 




80 
. 81 
82 
83 
84 
85 
86 
87 
88 
89 
90 
91 
92 
93 
94 
95 
96 
97 


Shale 


Feet. 

2 
30 

8 
21 
16 

6 

8 
12 
20 
10 
16 
12 
50 
97 
13 
75 
15 
30 


Feet. 

1,191 
1,221 
1,229 
1,250 
1, 266 
1,272 
1,280 
1,292 
1,312 
1,322 
1,338 
1,350 
1,400 
1, 497 
1,510 
1,585 
1,600 
1,630 
























Black shale 






Shale 












Gumbo 




Marlbrook, 441 feet. 


Shale 












Shale. . 






White chalk rock 


6-inch casing to 1,360 








































98 
99 
100 
101 
102 
103 
104 
105 
106 
107 
108 
109 
110 
111 
112 
113 
114 


White chalky lime 


35 
10 
80 
15 
70 
30 
35 
63 
12 
16 
18 
27 
6 
15 
18 
2 
7 


1,665 
1,675 
1, 755 
1,770 
1,840 
1,870 
1,905 
1, 968 
1,980 
1,996 
2,014 
2,041 
2,047 
2, 062 
2,080 
2,082 
2,089 








































Austin, 459 feet. 






































Gumbo 
























115 
116 
117 




7 
17 
18 


2,096 
2,113 
2,131 




Blossom sand member 




Water salty. Rose 


of Eagle Ford «lay, 


Hard sand rock 


rapidly to 1,500 feet, 
then slowly to top. 


42 feet. 






118 
119 

120 
121 
122 

123 
124 
125 
126 

127 


Dark blue or black shale 

"Emery rock" (hard rock cut 
drill badly.) 


79 
5 

15 

4 
11 

10 
23 
14 
10 
3 


2,210 
2,215 

2,230 
2,234 
2,245 

2,255 

2,278 
2,292 
2,302 
2,305 










Lower clays of Eagle 


Hard sand 




Ford clay and Wood- 
bine sand, 174 feet. 





































A comparison of the foregoing record with records published by 
Veatch 1 shows some discrepancies in the thicknesses of the different 
formations. These discrepancies may be attributed doubtless to the 
incompleteness of the earlier records, together with the varying charac- 
ter of some of the formations. In the ice company's well one chalk 
bed only is noted, and this is found at a depth of 1,700 feet. In the 
oil prospect well three chalk beds are penetrated, one at 1,350, one 
at 1,630, and one 1,665 feet. It is evident that the 125 feet of chalky 
limestone in the ice company's well represents the two lower beds 
with their associated marls or shales (Nos. 98, 99, and 100), and that 
the upper bed of chalk No. 92 evidently grades horizontally into blue 

1 Veatch, A. C, Geology and underground water resources of northern Louisiana and southern Arkan- 
sas: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 261-265. 



60 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

marly clays which are included in the blue clays assigned to the Marl- 
brook in the ice company's well. Likewise, the greater thickness of 
the Nacatoch (347 feet) is probably to be accounted for by local vari- 
ation in the character of the beds assigned to the lower part of the 
Arkadelphia or the upper part of the Marlbrook, or perhaps to lack 
of care in keeping the record. 

From the data furnished by the above records it is shown that 
although the Nacatoch sand furnishes an abundance of water, its 
quality is such as to make it unfit for domestic use. The water 
found in the Blossom sand (Nos. 115-117) is too highly charged with 
saline constituents for use. The bed was not reached in the Red- 
water well. The only locality in which the Blossom sand member 
seems likely to constitute a possible source of water supply is in the 
western part of the county. From DeKalb westward this sand 
should be reached at from 1,000 to 1,300 feet, according to locality, 
and in some places the water will doubtless flow out at the surface. 
The quality of this water differs greatly from point to point, and no 
reliable statement can be made as to what its quality may be at any 
place. At Clarksville it is of good quality and this is likely to be 
true of it in some other places. 

HOPKINS AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES. 

Topographic relations. — Hopkins and Franklin counties lie just 
within the northern boundary of the Eocene and have the general 
relief of an eastward (coastward) sloping plain dissected by the 
branching tributaries of South Fork of Sulphur River on the north 
(mainly through White Oak Creek), and of Sabine River through 
Lake Fork on the south. The drainage of the region is divided about 
equally between the two systems. On the south and east the sur- 
face is diversified by many low eminences mostly rounded out of the 
unconsolidated sands, but in the extreme southern part of the area 
the interstream areas present a flat-topped, mesalike appearance, 
due to the capping of a more resistant layer of hard iron conglomerate. 
In the north and west a narrow strip of high-rolling prairie consti- 
tutes the eastward continuation of the prairie region of the adjoining 
county and has the White Oak bottom as its eastern limit. Cumby 
and Ridgeway, the two highest points in the district, are located on 
this prairie. The drainage ways are for most part broad and shallow 
and are occupied by insignificant streams, which in the summer or 
dry season consist merely of a chain of pools. White Oak bottom 
has an average width of about 3 miles. All the smaller streams are 
completely dry during the summer season. The population of 
Franklin County is 9,331, and that of Hopkins County is 31,038. 

Geology. — Hopkins and Franklin counties lie on the northern edge 
of the eastern timber belt, which represents the outcrop of the Eocene 



HOPKINS AND FE AN KLIN COUNTIES. 



61 



Tertiary. The formations consist for the most part of unconsolidated 
sands and cdays, with local beds of lignite and ferruginous sand- 
stones and iron ore. Owing to the nonpersistent character of the 
stratification and the lack of fossils, no general sequence can be 
worked out in the stratigraphy of the region. It is clear, however 
that South Fork of Sulphur River marks the northern boundary of 
the Eocene in this region and that the beds belong to the Wilcox 
formation. 

In prospecting for water at Sulphur Springs the city corporation 
put down, to a depth of 1,515 feet, a well, the record of which has 
been kindly furnished by Mr. W. B. Baxter. This section is instruct- 
ive as showing the thickness and character of the formations consti- 
tuting the lower Eocene in this region. The collar of the well is 500 
feet above tide. 

Record of city ivell, Sulphur Springs, Tex. 



Formation. 


No. 


Character rock. 


Thick- 
ness. 


Depth. 




1 
2 
3 
4 

5 
6 
7 
8 
9 

10 
11 
12 

13 
14 
15 
. 16 
17 




Feet. 
1 
8 
2 
4 

18 
2 
2 
15 
16 
59 
1 
565 

1 
20 

8 
88 
10 


Feet. 
1 






9 




Lignite 


11 




White sand with water; source of supply lor most 
of the wells of the region. 


15 
33 






35 






37 






52 






68 


Wilcox. 


Shale 


117 






118 




Black shale interlaminated with lighter colored 
shale; contains iron concretions, iron pyrites, and 
mica. 


683 
684 






704 






712 






800 




Black shale with iron concretions; and fossils; 
Vcnericardia planicosta. 


810 




18 

20 

21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 




90 
20 
80 

4 
30 

2 

15 
40 

2 
15 

2 
15 

24 

5 

1 

1 


900 




White clay 


020 






1,000 






1,004 






1,034 






1,036 






1,051 






1,091 


Midway, 3244. 




1,093 






1,108 






1,110 






1,125 






1,127 J 
1,1321 

1,133* 














1,134 J 








34 
35 
36 
37 




171 
14 
95 

101 


1,3054 
1,319| 






Navarro and Taylor, 381. 


Blue shale and sand 


1,4144 






1,515| 









The upper 1,134 feet of this section are assigned to the Wilcox 
and Midway, the division between these being placed tentatively at 
the base of No. 17. The beds below No. 33 apparently represent the 
Navarro formation and Taylor mark 



62 GEOLOGY AND GEOUND WATEKS OF NORTHEASTEKN TEXAS.' 

Ridgeway and Cumby are located on a prairie composed of dark 
soil underlain by yellow calcareous clay in some instances showing 
the presence of greens and. Some fossils obtained from this clay a 
few miles north of Cumby are reported by Dr. T. W. Stanton to be 
" probably of Tertiary age, but they contain no distinctive forms 
that fix the exact horizon." The stratigraphic relations indicate 
that the narrow strip of prairie extending from Cumby past Ridgeway 
represents the outcrop of the Midway clay and shale beds (Nos. 18- 
22). North of Sulphur Bluff, in the northeastern part of the county, 
a narrow prairie of black soil overlies yellow calcareous clay over 
blue chalky sand. Three miles north of this, on the south side of 
South Fork, 42 feet of blue and black sandy shales and shaly sands, 
which is strongly bituminous and contains many Cretaceous fossils 
(pp. 27,28), outcrops in a bluff, where it apparently represents the 
lowermost beds of the Sulphur Springs well. This strip of black land 
is said to extend down the river as far as Goolesboro, in Titus County, 
where it disappears beneath the alluvium of the valley. 

In the vicinity and south and east of Mount Vernon the higher 
elevations are capped b}^ a deposit of unconsolidated yellow and red 
sand, white clays, and gravels which rest upon the apparently eroded 
surface of the Wilcox formation. Both sands and clays are usually 
distinctly cross-bedded and the contact with the underlying formation 
is frequently marked by a layer of ferruginous sandstone or iron ore, 
sometimes in broken blocks irregularly distributed along the plane, 
of contact. These overlying beds are probably of late Tertiary age, 
though no evidence that would fix their age is at hand. 

Deposits of lignite are reported from different localities, but the 
beds are usually thin and of small horizontal extent. A bed 2 feet 
thick is reported in the Sulphur Springs well at a depth of 9 feet 
and similar occurrences are reported in the vicinity of Mount Vernon 
in Franklin County. At Como, 10 miles south of Sulphur Springs, 
a bed of lignite 7 feet thick, found at a depth of 75 feet, has been 
successfully worked for the past six years. The lower 2 feet of the 
deposit is unavailable on account of impurities. The roof is com- 
posed of compact sand and the mine is entirely free from water. 
This bed comes to the surface 1J miles north and borings do not 
indicate workable thickness outside a very small area. Fifteen feet 
above the Como vein is another bed 2J feet thick, and 45 feet above 
is one 2 feet thick. The following record of a shaft put down a 
number of years ago somewhere in this vicinity is published in the 
Texas reports. 1 

i Pumble, E. T., Report on brown coal and lignite of Texas, 1892, p. 161. 



HOPKINS AND FRANKLIN COUNTIES. 63 

Record of shaft near Como, Tex. 

Feet. 

1. Clay ----- 

2 . Sandrock 10 

3. Slaty clay 4 

4. Brown coal 16 

5. Sands and clays 9 

6. Plastic clay 30 

75 

In places the sands are indurated to form ferruginous sandstones, 
which weather out in irregular masses and have some use for build- 
ing and paving, and by the railroads for ballast. No workable 
deposits of iron ore are reported in this district. 

Water conditions. — In the prairie areas cisterns are the sole reliance 
for water for domestic use. In the remaining areas shallow wells 
are abundant, the surface sand overlying a clay being a good reser- 
voir. The water is, however, at times mineralized and many persons 
residing on the sandy lands have cisterns ; some have both wells and 
cisterns. Sulphur Springs is now supplied by a rain reservoir, but 
for a long time, until it outgrew them, it was amply supplied by 
three wells. 

Ill the sandy wooded region, the larger portion of which drains 
southward through Lake Fork and Big Cypress Creek, an abundant 
supply of water is found in the surface sands at depths varying from 
20 to 40 feet. Along the slopes springs are of frequent occurrence. 
In localities underlain by formations in which clay predominates 
some difficulty is found in obtaining sufficient supplies of water. 
The character of the water is quite variable, in some localities being 
soft and agreeable and in others more or less strongly mineralized. 
At Mount Vernon, Franklin County, the supply for domestic use is 
drawn chiefly from shallow wells and cisterns. 

Deep wells. — Very few attempts have been made to exploit the 
deep-lying water beds and the information concerning their extent, 
character, or location is very meager. The most serious attempt 
made was that at Sulphur Springs by the city authorities, who 
drilled to a depth of 1,515 feet without satisfactory results. The 
record of this well (p. 61) shows that below the upper " veins/' Nos. 
4 and 9, the only water encountered was a small flow at a depth of 
1,034 feet and another at 1,303 feet. At Mount Vernon, Franklin 
County, the railroad has a 400-foot well which yields a large supply 
by pumping. 1 No information is available as to the horizon from 
which the water is derived. At Cumby, wells 300 feet deep fail to 
find water below the surface supply. 

As to the Cretaceous horizons, very few data are available. The 
record of the Sulphur Springs well indicates, however, that owing 

» Veatih, A. 0„ Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, pp. 230-231. 



64 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

to the thickness of the post-Cretaceous deposits over most of this 
region the possibility of exploiting the underlying water horizons is 
exceedingly remote. The only district in which there is any possi- 
bility of obtaining water from the Cretaceous beds is in the extreme 
northern part of Hopkins County, and the lack of knowledge of the 
extent and water-bearing character of these beds makes hazardous 
any prediction concerning them. The conclusion seems warranted, 
however, that in the valley of the Sulphur Fork, and for 4 or 5 miles 
to the south, the Nacatoch sand may be reached at depths varying 
from 500 to 1,000 feet. At Commerce, in Hunt County, which is 9 
miles northwest of Kidgeway, these sands were reached at 370 feet. 
They outcrop between Commerce and Fairlie, 6 miles northwest of 
Commerce, giving an estimated dip of 50 feet per mile. From this 
it would appear that these beds may be reached at Ridgeway at a 
depth of 800 to 1,000 feet and the lower sands about 200 feet deeper. 
No prediction can be made as to the water-bearing character of the 
latter beds; the upper or Nacatoch sand is water-bearing at Com- 
merce, but the water is not used because of its mineralized character. 

CASS COUNTY. 

Topography. — Cass County is in the northeastern part of the 
State, adjoining the Louisiana State line; it is bounded on the north 
b}^ Sulphur Fork, and on the south and west by the counties of 
Marion and Morris, respectively. Its area is 945 square miles and 
its population 27,587. Linden is the county seat. The county is 
traversed by two railroads — the Missouri, Kansas & Texas and the 
Texas & Pacific. 

The region constitutes the eastern extension of the general coast- 
ward-sloping plain of the eastern timber belt and differs from the 
counties to the west only in the greater degree to which the original 
plain level has been dissected by erosion. The drainage is princi- 
pally to the southeast through small streams emptying into Caddo 
Lake, Sulphur Fork on the north receiving but a small part of the 
run-off through a few short tributaries. The surface is decidedly 
rolling and is characterized in the main by long ridges extending 
from northeast to southwest, or in a direction at right angles to this. 
These ridges are separated by steep-sided, narrow, deep ravines, 
the bottoms of which are generally occupied by narrow streams fed 
by the numerous springs found everywhere along the sides of the 
ridges. 1 In some of the ridges deposits of laminated iron ore occur 
in thin seams at depths of 20 to 40 feet below the summits. Such 
ridges usually present a terraced appearance due in part to the 
differential erosion of the hard and soft layers and in part, doubtless, 

i Kennedy, William, Second Ann. Rept. GepL Survey Texas, 1890, pp. 67-68, 



CASS COUNTY. 65 

to landslides brought about by the undermining action of springs 
which find their way out of the greensands that underlie the ore beds. 1 

The following elevations are shown by the railroad profiles : Alamo, 
242; Atlanta, 264; Avinger, 393; Bivens, 314; Hughes Springs, 373; 
Kildare, 311; Queen City, 349. 

The tops of the hills are from 50 to 100 feet above the level of the 
flood plains of the principal streams and have a general elevation of 
between 500 and 600 feet above tide level. On the north the wide 
flood plain of Sulphur Fork is bounded by a relatively narrow north- 
ward-facing drainage slope intersected by few and short tributaries. 

Geology. — The county lies entirely upon the outcrop of the Wilcox 
formation and, like the district on the west, is characterized by 
timber-covered slopes and sandy soils. The deposits exposed within 
the limits of the county present the twofold division noted in the 
counties farther west, viz, an upper unstratified deposit of sand 
with local deposits of iron ore and a lower division of stratified sands, 
sand} r clays, and clays with local deposits of lignites. 

The upper part of the lower division consists of thinly laminated 
red, yellow, and white sands and sandy cla}^s, blending horizontally 
and vertically in places into unstratified mottled red and white sands. 
The clays are usually dark blue, gray, or black, or in places red, 
yellow, or white; they occur interstratified and interlaminated with 
the sands and are generally sandy, though in places fairly free from 
sand. These beds are well exposed in the vicinity of Queen City, 
where they have a thickness of 65 feet or more, for which reason 
they have been given the name Queen City in the Texas reports. 

Below these beds is a series of black, blue, and gray micaceous 
sands, blue, brown, and gray clays, and beds of lignites of varying 
thickness and generally of local extent. In places the sands are said 
to contain thin strata of sandstones and limestones. 

Deposits of brown coal appear in different parts of the county, 
the best occurrences being reported from the northeastern portion, 
at Alamo and Stone Coal Bluff. At the former locality a bed of 
brown coal, 4 feet 7 inches thick, was found at a depth of 52 feet 
and another bed, 1 foot 8 inches thick, 11 feet higher. At Stone 
Coal Bluff a bed of coal 12 feet thick is said to occur at the bottom 
of the river. 3 

Resting on the irregular worn surface of the stratified lignitiferous 
sands and clays constituting the lower division are yellow, brown, 
and red pebbly sands, for the most part unstratified, ranging from 
a few feet to 100 feet in thickness. These sands contain the iron- 
ore deposits of the region, which appear as a kind of pavement 

i Penrose, R. A. F., First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1889, pp. 84-86. Kennedy, William, Second 
Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1890, pp. 68-70. 
2 Shumard, B. F., First Rept. Progress Geol. Survey Texas, p. 12. 

87985°— wsp 276—11 5 



■■«*'•••*••.■'•■■•'.•.■..■••.•'.■'.•'.•■.■• ■■•'*.■:■ ■■: 

:■•.■• ■•:; =^y.-::^^-: ■•.-•■ .■ ;.■..-.'•■_.. .- •. ■ •. ..'•.••.:.•. . 

-.. . .".'Red and yellow sand 




.Fine laminated sand /:;...-..-. •.-;.:. v .:.-.....>ivr^.'.'.v".u..^ . ...■...-.. No i 

No 2 



66 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

UDder the sands capping the ridges or as aggregations of bowlders 
accumulated along the slopes. 

According to Kennedy, with the exception of some small deposits 
of laminated ore, no continuously bedded ores occur within the 
county. For the most part the ores consist of rounded, oval, or 
lenticular concretionary masses, which in places have the appear- 
ance of a regular bed, but which change horizontally into ferruginous 
sandstone or into the irregular or rudely rectangular blocks of con- 
glomeratic ore usually found along the valley sides or capping the 
lower hills. The ore deposits vary in thickness from a few inches 
to a maximum of 10 feet, 1 and for the most part are limited to the 

surface. Parties 
who have worked 
and prospected the 
ores for years state 
that on following 

Figure 6. — Diagrammatic section of strata near Atlanta, Cass County. ^ into tip LiIIq 

the ore is replaced by dark ferruginous sand. The best deposits are 
reported to occur southwest of Hughes and east of Linden. 

In a railroad cut one-half mile north of Atlanta the beds have the 
relations shown in figure 6. 

Here 4 to 12 feet of red and yellow sand containing irregular 
masses of low-grade iron ore, blocks of which occur distributed along 
the plane of contact, rest unconformably upon laminated sand or 
sandy clay, with little appearance of grit. 

The relations of the formations on the western side of the county 
are shown in the accompanying section, compiled from a series of 
exposures in railroad cuts north of Hughes: 

Composite section in railroad cuts north of Hughes, Tex. 

Ft. in. 

1. Soil and reddish-brown sand with pebbles 4 to 2 

2. Yellow and red sand, containing concretionary masses of low- 

grade iron ore. Portions of the beds are indurated to a 
hard ferruginous sandstone 8 

3. Laminated red and white sand, sandy clay, locally white 

mottled clays, containing nodular, concretionary iron ore.. 4 

4. Brown lignitic sands and sandy clays, and laminated black 

clay 8 

5. Brownish-red sand interlaminated with fine white sandy clay . 25 

6. Lignite 3 

7. White sand mottled with red ; exposed 3 

68 3 

The age of this upper deposit of sand with its concretionary and 
conglomerate ores has not been clearly determined. In the Texas 

i Penrose, R. A. F., First Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1889, pp. 35-65. Kennedy, William, Second 
Ann. Rept. Geol. Survey Texas, 1890, pp. 65-95. 



CASS COUNTY. 67 

reports the areas in which the iron ores occurred were regarded as 
outliers of the lower (Mount Selman) division of the lower Clai- 
borne (St. Maurice). That the ores had their source in the Claiborne 
beds may be admitted, but their present condition may be due to 
rearrangement by erosion during late Tertiary time. 

^Yater resources. — The supply of water for domestic and stock pur- 
poses in Cass County is obtained almost entirely from shallow wells 
20 to 50 feet deep, the most common depth being 30 to 40 feet. The 
supplies are derived mostly from surficial sands, but in some places 
come from the lower sand horizons. The water from the surficial 
sands is usually soft and of good quality, but locally becomes min- 
eralized to a greater or less extent. 

Springs are of frequent occurrence wherever the base of the surfi- 
cial sands has been reached by erosion, but in general are small and 
are but little used. They are frequently chalybeate in character, 
that at Hughes having for a long time sustained an excellent repu- 
tation for its medicinal properties. Another spring, owned by Mr. 
Charles Thrasher, 5 miles east of Linden, is also worthy of note. 
Analyses made in the laboratories of the Survey (p. 74) of the waters 
of these two springs show them to be very much alike. 

The supply of water derived from the surficial sands is in the main 
ample for present requirements for domestic and stock purposes, but 
it is not sufficient to meet manufacturing or city needs, to supply 
which resort is had to rain tanks. 

So far as can be learned no attempts have been made to exploit any 
of the deeper water horizons in Cass County. At Jefferson, in Marion 
County, 10 miles south of the boundary of Cass, a well put down many 
years ago to a depth of 802 feet in the search for coal struck a strong 
flow of water with sufficient pressure, according to reports, to rise 
35 or 40 feet above the surface when piped. At first the flow is 
said to have been very strong, but caving at the bottom resulting 
from drawing the pipe back 80 feet has greatly diminished the 
pressure. At present the flow is about a gallon a minute. Ken- 
nedy reports as follows concerning this well : ' ' The drill passed through 
alternate strata of sands, clays, and lignites to a depth of 802 feet. 
Three heavy beds of lignite and a number of smaller ones are said 
to have been passed through in the boring. " 1 

According to Mr. J. M. De Ware, corroborated by Mr. W. T. Atkins, 
this well is about 830 feet deep. The elevation at the top is about 
196 feet. The water is rather strongly mineralized and has a high 
reputation locally. (See analysis, p. 74.) 

Veatch states 2 that this water comes from the Nacatoch sand. 
In the absence of satisfactory data no definite statement can be made, 

i Proc. Acad. Nat. Sei., Philadelphia, for 1895, 1896, pp. 136-137. 
2 Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 46, 1906, p. 233. 



68 GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 

but it seems probable that the source is the lower portion of the 
Wilcox formation. 

If this water horizon is persistent it will undoubtedly be found 
underlying the whole of Cass County at depths varying from 800 to 
1,200 feet, according to locality. In some places the water would 
no doubt be too strongly mineralized to be of general use, but from 
the variable character of the water from the Wilcox formation it is 
not improbable that good wells might be developed in localities 10 
to 20 miles away. 

Nothing is known of the Cretaceous horizons in this region, but the 
inference is that they are not practically available, owing to their 
excessive depth and to the highly mineralized character of the water 
they yield. 



DATA OF WELLS. 



69 



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GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 



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72 



GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 





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GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 73 
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE WATERS. 

The available information regarding the chemical composition of 
the waters of northeastern Texas is given in the following table. The 
number of analyses is too small to permit much generalization regard- 
ing the mineralization of the waters. Those tested from the Sabine 
formation seem to be much superior in quality to those from other 
underground sources. The waters from the Blossom sand member 
at Blossom are very high in calcium, magnesium, alkalies, and sul- 
phates, being similar in these respects to the waters tested from the 
Eagle Ford clay. The single well tested drawing its supply from the 
Nacatoch sand yields a brine. The analyses are stated in parts per 
million in ionic form. Most of them were made especially for this 
report, and the few obtained from other sources have been recom- 
puted to ionic form in order to facilitate comparison. 



74 



GEOLOGY AND GROUND WATERS OF NORTHEASTERN TEXAS. 






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INDEX. 



A. 

Page. 

Ander, Capt., well of 50 

Annona chalk, occurrence of 23-25 

Arkansas, water-bearing formations in 42 

Artesian characters, definition of 36 

See also Wells. 
Austin group, occurrence of 21-25 

water in 41 

Avinger station, railroad cut at, plate show- 
ing 26 

B. 

Basal clays, occurrence of 28-29 

Blossom sand member in Delta County 49 

in Red River County 51, 52, 53 

occurrence of 19-21 

water in 41,47-48,60 

Bond, E. H., well of 49 

Bowie County, geography of 53 

geology of 53 

Port Hudson formation in 54, 55 

water resources of 54-60 

wells in 55-60 

Boynton, J. J., well of 57 

Brownstown marl, occurrence of 22-23 

C. 

Cass County, geography of 64 

geology of 65-67 

iron ore deposits in, figure showing 66 

lignite in 65 

water resources of 67-68 

Chalk, Annona, occurrence of 23-25 

of northeastern Texas, J. A. Taff on 22 

of southwestern Arkansas, J. A. Taff on. 11 

Claiborne group, occurrence of 30-31 

Clarksville, wells at 52, 53 

Clay, basal, occurrence of 28-29 

Eagle Ford, occurrence of 17-21 

Comanche series, occurrence of 14-15 

Cretaceous rocks, diagrammatic section of, 

figure showing 14 

Cretaceous series, upper, occurrence of 15-28 

upper, overlap of, map showing 18 

D. 

De Kalb, well near 55 

Delta County, geography of 48 

geology of 49 

water resources of 49-51 

Dumble, E. T., on brown coal and lignite 

of Texas 10 

E. 

Eagle Ford clay, occurrence of 17-21 

water in 41 

Eocene series, occurrence of 28-31 

Eocene strata in Louisiana and Arkansas, 
water conditions in, figure 
showing 43 



F. 

Page. 

Fossils in Austin chalk 24 

in Eagle Ford clay 18-19 

in Midway formation 29 

in Navarro and Taylor formations 27-28 

Franklin County, geography of 60 

geology of 60-61 

lignite in 62-63 

water resources of 63 

Fredericksburg group, occurrence of 14 

G. 

Gas, n atural , in Red River County 52 

Gordon, C. H. , on chalk formations of north- 
ern Texas n 

Gulf series, occurrence of 15-28 

H. 

Hill, R. T.,on Annona chalk 10,23 

on Cretaceous rocks of Texas 10 

on geology and geography of the Black 

and Grand prairies, Texas 10 

Home Ice Co., well of, record of 57 

Hopkins County, geography of 60 

geology of 60-61 

lignite in 62-63 

water resources in 63 

Horton, well at, record of 50 

I. 

Iron, ores of, in Cass County 66 

J. 

Johnson, L. C, on iron regions of northern 

Louisiana and eastern Texas. . . 11 

K. 

Kennedy, William, on Eocene Tertiary of 

Texas, east of Brazos River 10 

on iron ores of eastern Texas 10 

L. 

Ladonia station, railroad cut at, plate show- 
ing 26 

Lafayette formation, occurrence of 31 

Lamar County, geography of 44 

geology of 44 

water resources of 45-48 

Leverett, S., on Cretaceous area north of 

Colorado River 11 

Lignite, deposits of, in Cass County 65 

deposits of, in Hopkins and Franklin 

counties 62-63 

M. 

Mason, F. B., acknowledgment to 53 

Midway formation, occurrence of 28-29 

Moore, W T . E., well of 47 

Mounds, formation of 32-33 

77 



78 



INDEX. 



N. 

Page. 

Navarro formation, occurrence of 25-28 

water in 41 

New Boston, well at. 55 

P. 

Paris, Tex., water supply of 45 

wells at, sections of 45-48 

Penrose, R. A. F., on geology of the Gulf 

Tertiary in Texas 10 

Pleistocene series, occurrence of 31-32 

Port Hudson formation in Bowie County . . 54, 55 

occurrence of 31-32 

Porter, John A., acknowledgment to ■ 45 

Q. 
Quaternary system, occurrence of 31-33 

R. 

Recent formations, occurrence of 32-33 

water in 44 

Red River County, geography of 51 

geology of 51-52 

water resources of 52-53 

Red water, well at, record of 56 

Rocks, capacity of, for imbibing water 35 

S. 

Sabine formation, occurrence of 29 

water in 42-43 

Sand mounds, occurrence of 9 

Sulphur Springs, city well at, record of 61 

T. 
Taff, J. A, on chalk of northeastern Texas. 22 

on chalk of southwestern Arkansas 11 

on Cretaceous area north of Colorado 

River „ 11 

Taylor marl, occurrence of 25-28 

water in 41 

Tertiary deposits, overlap of, map showing. 18 

Tertiary system, occurrence of 28-31 

water-bearing formations in 42-43 

Texarkana Oil Prospect Co., well of, record 

of 57-59 

Texarkana Waterworks Co., well of, record 

of 57 

Texas Midland Railway, wells of 47, 50 

Texas, northeastern, drainage of 9 

northeastern, geography of 7 

geologic history of 11-14 

geologic literature of 10-11 

map of 16 

physiography of 7-9 

structure of 33-34 

Trinity sands in Delta County 49 

in Lamar County 45 

in Red River County.,.. 52 

occurrence of 14 

water in 38-39 



Page. 
Veatch, A. C. t on formations in southwest- 
ern Arkansas 15 

on geology and underground water 
resources of northern Louisiana 
and southern Arkansas. 11 

W. 

Washita group, occurrence of 15 

water in 39-40 

Water in Austin group 41 

in Blossom sand member 41, 47-48, 60 

in Eagle Ford clay 41 

in Navarro formation 41 

in Recent formations 41 

in Wilcox (Sabine) formation 42-43 

in Taylor marl 41 

in Trinity sands 38-39 

in Washita group 39-40 

in Woodbine sand 40, 52-53 

Water-bearing beds, geologic relations 

of ^ 37-38 

geologic relations of, figure showing ... 39 

in Arkansas 42 

in the Tertiary deposits 42-43 

Water resources of Bowie County 51-60 

of Cass County 67-68 

of Delta County 49-51 

of Franklin County 63 

of Hopkins County 63 

of Lamar County 45-48 

of Red River County 52-53 

Water, underground, availability of 35 

underground, source of 34-35 

Waters, chemical composition of 73-75 

50 

55 

56 

61 

55 

50 

49 

57 

57 

47 



Well at Horton 

at New Boston 

at Redwater 

at Sulphur Springs 

near De Kalb 

of Capt. Ander 

of E. H. Bond 

of J. J. Boynton 

of Home Ice Co 

of W. E. Moore 

of Texarkana Oil Prospect Co 57-59 

of Texarkana Waterworks Co 57 

Wells, artesian, conditions necessary for. . . 36-37 

at Clarksville 52, 53 

at Paris, Tex., sections of 45-48 

data concerning 69-72 

of Texas Midland Railway 47, 50 

Wilcox formation, occurrence of 29 

water in ... . 42-43 

Wills Point clays, occurrence of 28-29 

Woodbine sand, in Delta County 49 

occurrence of 16-17 

water in 40,52-53 



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